,   ,    . 


• 


\ 


MEMORIAL 

v 


OF    THE 


SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION 


OP    THE 


FOUNDING  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


AT     ANDOVER. 

^-^ss-*1*"*****^^ 

fTiR  *Ry 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

or 


ANDOVER: 
PUBLISHED    BY    WARREN    F.    DRAPER. 

1  859. 


/       I 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  Exigencies,  Sept.  23,  1858  — 

Voted,  That  Rev.  J.  L.  Taylor  be  requested  to  carry  through  the 
press  the  Address  of  Rev.  Dr.  Bacon,  delivered  at  the  Semi-Centen- 
nial  Celebration  of  the  Theological  Seminary ;  and  also  to  prepare  a 
volume  which  shall  give  a  full  account  of  the  said  Celebration ;  —  the 
manuscript  of  the  volume  to  be  submitted  to  the  Trustees,  for  their 
approval,  before  publication. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  Phillips  Academy,  March  3 1st, 
1859,  the  Treasurer  of  the  Board,  Rev.  J.  L.  Taylor,  having  submit- 
ted a  Report  of  the  labor  devolved  on  him  by  a  vote  of  the  Committee 
of  Exigencies,  Sept.  23,  1858,  in  preparing  a  Memorial  of  the  late 
Semi-Centennial  Celebration  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  —  from 
which  Report  it  appears,  that,  in  addition  to  his  own  care  in  the  work, 
the  entire  mass  of  manuscript  presented  has  been  carefully  read  by 
Professor  Park,  and  by  Messrs.  Aiken  and  Jackson  of  this  Board, 
and  also  a  large  portion  of  it  by  the  Clerk  of  the  Board,  Mr.  S.  H. 
Taylor,  who  unite  in  recommending  its  publication,  —  it  was 

Voted,  That,  on  the  recommendation  aforesaid,  the  Memorial  thus 
prepared  by  Mr.  Taylor,  be  printed  and  published  under  his  super- 
vision. 


To  preserve  a  due  proportion  between  the  various  parts  of  this 
volume,  it  has  been  necessary  to  abridge  some  of  the  Addresses ;  but 
in  no  case  has  the  language  or  sentiment  of  a  writer  been  changed,  — 
each  contributor  being  considered  properly  responsible  for  whatever 
appears  under  his  name,  though  published  by  the  desire  and  under 
the  sanction  of  the  Trustees. 

It  has  also  been  deemed  advisable  to  add  a  few  notes,  illustrating 
or  confirming  various  statements  of  the  text,  at  different  points,  as 
well  as  to  insert  Addresses,  so  far  as  they  could  be  procured,  which 
the  writers  had  no  opportunity  to  deliver.  The  few  preliminary 
paragraphs  and  other  occasional  sentences,  purposely  brief  as  possible, 
by  which  the  several  Addresses  are  connected,  would  be  unnecessary 
for  any  reader  who  was  present,  but  may  help  others  more  justly  to 
appreciate  the  occasion  and  the  speakers ;  while  the  brief  notices  of 
various  speeches  that  were  made  and  of  some  anecdotes  recited,  not 
furnished  by  the  authors,  may  serve  to  bring  slightly  into  view  one 
feature  of  the  Celebration  which  must  otherwise  have  soon  passed 
into  oblivion.  It  may  be  well  also  to  notify  the  reader,  that,  while 
Dr.  Bacon's  Discourse  was  delivered  as  it  here  appears,  in  mil  and 
without  change,  the  other  Addresses,  so  far  as  they  were  made,  were 
rather  the  free  utterances  of  the  hour,  taking  their  torm  from  the 
promptings  of  the  scene,  differing  often  in  phraseolosry  trom  what  had 
been  prepared  or  has  since  been  written  out,  yet  in  their  general 
outline,  and  in  much  of  the  language,  as  here  recorded. 

ANDOVER,  MAY  5,  1859. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Arrangements, 1—3 

Attendance,             3 — 4 

Letter  of  Dr.  Spring, 3 — 4 

Graduating  Class,            5 

Opening  of  the  Seminary,  1808, 5 — 6 

Address  of  Dr.  Asa  D.  Smith,        .        .        .        .  '     .        .        .        .  6—8 

Mortuary  Statistics,  by  Dr.  Clark, 8 — 10 

Remarks  of  Eev.  Mr.  Waldo, 10 — 11 

Remarks  of  Rev.  Mr.  Coe, 11 

Address  of  Dr.  Hawes, 11 — 18 

Remarks  of  Rev.  Mr.  Couch, 18 

Address  of  Dr.  Withington, 19—25 

Note  —  Obituary  of  Mr.  Norris, 23—26 

Remarks  of  Dr.  Dimmick, 26 

Remarks  of  Dr.  Rowland, 26 

Gift  to  the  Alumni  by  Mr.  Farrar, 26 

Meetings  of  Classes, 26 — 27 

Address  of  Dr.  William  Adams, 27—33 

Address  of  Dr.  Chickering,             33—47 

Address  of  Dr.  Anderson, 48 — 57 

Address  of  Dr.  Badger, 57 — 63 

Address  of  Dr.  Budington, 64 — 68 


o  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Procession, ..'...  69 

Commemorative  Discourse,     . 70 — 113 

Inauguration  of  Hitchcock  Professor, 114 

Dinner  in  the  Tent, 115 

Address  of  Hon.  William  J.  Hubbard, 115—116 

Address  of  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy, 117—120 

Address  of  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor, 120—146 

Address  of  Dr.  Stearns, 146—155 

Latin  Formulary  at  Prof.  Stuart's  Inauguration,  1810,        .        .        .  155 — 156 

Address  of  Dr.  Wayland, 156—166 

Atlantic  Cable, 166—169 

Address  prepared  by  Dr.  Braman,  not  delivered,         ....  169 — 180 

Address  of  Dr.  Blagden, 180—189 

Address  of  Dr.  N.  Adams, 190—194 

Address  prepared  by  Dr.  Howe,  not  delivered,  .  195 — 200 

Address         "        by  Dr.  Jackson,            " 200—210 

Address        "        by  Rev.  Mr.  Newton,  "             210—214 

Address        "        by  Prof.  Stowe,           "             215—222 

Address         "        by  Dr.  Sears,               "             222—224 

Address        "        by  Prof.  Brown,          "             224—227 

Address        "        by  Prof.  Park,             "             227—236 

Address        "        by  Rev.  Mr.  Wolcott,  "             237—240 

General  Summary, 241 — 242 


v  \B  R  A^7 
or  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

or 


MEMORIAL. 


THE  SEMI-CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION  !  —  The  day  might 
properly  have  been  precisely  fifty  years  from  the  first 
and  partial  founding  of  the  Seminary,  August  31,  1807 ; 
or  fifty  years  from  the  laying  of  the  second  and  more 
enlarged  foundation,  March  21, 1808,  when  the  plans  of 
two  distinct  circles  of  friends  were  harmonized  around 
one  centre ;  or  fifty  years  from  the  formal  public  open- 
ing of  the  Institution,  at  the  inauguration  of  its  first 
Professors,  Sept.  28,  1808.  But  since  neither  of  these 
dates  could  be  considered,  exclusively,  the  era  of  the 
founding  of  the  Seminary  in  the  form  which  it  finally 
assumed,  it  was  determined  to  give  a  commemorative 
character  generally  to  the  anniversary  of  the  present, 
as  the  fiftieth  complete  year  in  the  history  of  the  In- 
stitution, since  it  entered  upon  its  distinctive  work. 

The  arrangements  for  celebrating  this  era  had  been 
made  with  much  deliberation  and  care,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Committees  appointed  by  the  Trustees  and  the 
Alumni,  in  concert  with  the  Faculty.  Citizens  of  An- 
dover,  in  large  numbers,  had  proffered  their  hospitalities 
to  their  utmost  extent,  with  admirable  readiness  and 
cordiality,  that  all  who  had  ever  been  connected  with 
the  Institution,  as  well  as  others  of  the  clergy,  who 

1 


2  THE     ARRANGE  MENTS. 

should  desire  to  be  present,  might  be  assured  of  a  wel- 
come here  ;  and  notice  had  been  widely  given  through 
the  religious  papers,  in  the  name  of  the  Trustees,  cor- 
dially inviting  the  largest  attendance. 

To  render  the  occasion  as  attractive  as  possible,  and 
yet  make  it  practicable  to  provide  for  all,  it  was  decided 
to  confine  the  celebration  within  the  limits  of  two  days, 
dispensing  with  the  customary  Annual  Sermon  and 
other  services  which  might  interfere  with  this  design ; 
while,  to  cherish  the  social  spirit  of  the  festival,  a  com- 
modious tent  was  pitched  —  on  the  Southwesterly  por- 
tion of  the  Lawn,  near  one  of  the  former  sites  of  Phil- 
lips Academy  —  in  which  most  of  the  meetings  could 
be  held.  For  the  purpose  of  securing  the  appropriate 
notice  of  such  individuals  and  topics,  connected  with 
the  half-century's  history  of  the  Seminary,  as  had  been 
specially  prominent,  arrangements  were  made,  first  of 
all,  for  an  elaborate  Commemorative  Discourse.  Cor- 
respondence was  then  had  with  eminent  Alumni  in 
various  sections  of  the  country,  representing  different 
types  of  our  current  theology,  on  the  same  general 
platform  with  the  Seminary  as  originally  founded  and 
still  administered.  Coining  from  different  evangelical 
religious  denominations  and  fields  of  labor,  it  was  an- 
ticipated that,  with  a  common  gratitude  for  their  train- 
ing here,  they  would  blend  the  reminiscences,  the  greet- 
ings, the  suggestions,  and  forecastings  of  the  occasion, 
with  colorings  of  every  fitting  hue.  They  were,  there- 
fore, cordially  invited  to  be  present  and  contribute  to 
the  interest  of  the  anniversary,  by  addresses  to  be 
spoken  as  there  might  be  time  and  opportunity,  but 
prepared  in  manuscript  for  subsequent  publication. 

It  was  foreseen  that  the  course  of  the  high  festival 
might  not  be,  in  all  respects,  precisely  in  accordance 


THE     ATTENDANCE.  6 

with  the  extended  programme  ;  that  some  of  the  many 
thus  invited  to  share  in  it  might  not  be  able  to  speak  if 
they  should  write,  or  to  write,  if  they  could  speak ;  that 
others  might  be  under  the  necessity  of  failing  either  to 
write  or  speak ;  that  what  might  be  best  for  the  press 
would  not  be  best  for  the  hour,  though  the  pith  and 
marrow  of  it  might,  if  briefly  given ;  that  some  things 
might  be  both  spoken  and  written  which  it  would  not 
be  deemed  expedient  to  print ;  that  many  extempora- 
neous appliances  would  be  needed  to  meet  unexpected 
emergencies;  and  that  no  care  or  tact  could  secure 
every  part  of  every  meeting  from  criticism,  deserved 
or  undeserved. 

The  attendance  upon  the  occasion  exceeded  the  gen- 
eral expectation.  Widely  dispersed  as  the  graduates  of 
the  Seminary  are,  and  unable  in  most  cases  to  make 
expensive  journeys,  it  was  cheering  to  see  how  many 
had  succeeded  in  the  effort  to  be  present.  One  who 
reached  here  was  so  enfeebled  by  disease  (of  which  he 
has  since  died),  that  he  could  attend  but  a  single  meet- 
ing ;  and  then  only  by  being  supported  with  pillows  in 
an  easy-chair.  Many  of  the  letters1  which  were  re- 


1  We  insert  here  a  single  specimen  of  the  letters  received  on  the  occa- 
sion :  — 

DOBB'S  FERRY,  WESTCIIESTER  Co.,  NEW  YORK, 

August  3,  1858. 
To  THE  REV.  EDWARDS  A.  PARK,  D.  D. 

DEAR  SIR  :  —  If  anything  could  have  added  to  my  desire  of  participat- 
ing in  the  Commemoration  at  Andover,  it  would  have  been  the  courtesy 
extended  to  me  by  your  kind  request. 

I  received  it  but  yesterday,  while  in  waiting  for  the  messenger  who  was  to 
convey  me  to  this  place.  It  was  too  late  to  alter  my  arrangements,  without 
doing  violence  to  the  feelings  of  others.  Were  I  young  and  active,  I  would 


THE     ATTENDANCE. 

ceived,  gratefully  accepting  the  invitation,  as  well  as 
some  from  persons  who  were  obliged  to  remain  away, 
were  filled  with  expressions  of  the  deepest  interest  in 
the  celebration.  Pastors  from  every  section  of  New 
England,  and  from  several  of  the  Middle  and  Western 
States,  in  large  numbers,  Professors  from  numerous  Col- 
leges and  from  other  Theological  Seminaries,  secretaries 
and  agents  of  various  benevolent  societies,  teachers, 
editors,  missionaries  from  remote  sections  of  the  coun- 
try, and  veterans  from  different  fields  of  foreign  service, 
made  up  the  goodly  company,  in  connection  with  the 
graduating  class,  and  specially  invited  guests,  more 
than  five  hundred  in  all ;  —  while  throngs  of  the  people 
generally,  in  Andover  and  vicinity,  at  all  of  the  more 
public  meetings  helped  to  swell  the  crowd. 


even  now  hasten  to  be  with  you ;  but,  obscured  as  my  vision  is,  sad  experi- 
ence has  taught  me  to  attempt  nothing  hastily. 

I  should  love  to  see  the  few  old  faces  that  remain,  and  the  many  more  that 
are  new ;  to  review  with  the  old  the  way  in  which  the  Lord  our  God  has  led 
us ;  and  to  cheer  the  young  for  the  forthcoming  conflict  and  victory.  I  hail 
them  as  fellow-workers  in  this  day  of  toil,  as  champions  in  the  war,  which, 
before  another  half-century  shall  have  passed  away,  will  crown  the  Captain 
of  our  Salvation  with  his  promised  laurels. 

What  a  review  of  events  and  men  will  this  commemoration  almost  neces- 
sarily present !  Griffin  and  Porter,  Stuart  and  Woods,  the  two  Edwardses, 
and  the  beloved  men  whose  dust,  sleeping  in  heathen  lands,  is  as  the 
smell  of  a  field  which  the  Lord  hath  blessed,  —  how  will  the  names  of  such 
men  rise  up  before  you  in  bright  array  !  Sacred  is  the  trust  to  stand  in  the 
places  of  such  men,  and  blessed  the  character  and  allotment  of  those  who, 
through  faith  and  patience,  are  followers  of  them  that  thus  inherit  the  prom- 
ises. 

Should  any  of  the  class  of  1810  be  living,  and  present,  greet  them  in  my 
name,  and  receive  the  affectionate  and  respectful  salutations  of 
Your  friend  and  brother, 

GARDINER  SPRING. 


EXERCISES    OF   THE   GRADUATING    CLASS.         O 

Amid  torrents  of  rain  —  which  during  the  day  dis- 
arranged all  previous  plans  for  the  meetings,  and  re^ 
quired  some  embarrassing  changes  —  the  exercises  of 
the  graduating  class  were  held  on  Wednesday  morning, 
August  4th,  at  the  village  church,  in  the  presence  of  a 
numerous  concourse,  —  as  the  services  at  the  opening 
of  the  Seminary  had  been  fifty  years  before1  —  and 
these  academical  exercises  were  followed  by  the  va- 
rious Commemorative  meetings,  appropriating  every 
available  hour,  and  exciting  the  liveliest  emotions. 

1  The  notice  of  this  occasion,  prepared,  it  is  presumed,  by  Dr.  Pearson, 
and  published  at  the  time,  is  in  these  words  : 

THEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTION,  Andover,  Sept.  28,  1808. 

This  day,  the  THEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTION,  established  in  this  town,  was 
opened  with  the  following  appropriate  solemnities.  The  morning  exercises 
commenced  with  a  prayer  by  the  REV.  MR.  FRENCH.  This  was  followed 
by  an  historical  summary  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  Phillips  Academy  by 
DR.  PEARSON.  After  this  the  Constitution  of  the  THEOLOGICAL  SEMI- 
NARY was  read  by  DR.  PEARSON  ;  the  Statutes  of  the  Associate  Founders, 
by  REV.  DR.  MORSE  ;  and  the  additional  Statutes  of  the  Founders  by  REV. 
MR.  DANA,  of  Newburyport. 

In  the  afternoon,  divine  service  was  opened  with  a  prayer,  by  REV.  MR. 
DANA.  A  sermon  was  preached  by  REV.  DR.  D WIGHT,  from  Matt.  xiii.  52 
—  "  Then  said  he  unto  them,  Therefore  every  scribe,  which  is  instructed 
unto  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  an  householder, 
which  bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasure  things  new  and  old."  To  this  suc- 
ceeded the  ordination  of  DR.  PEARSON  ;  the  consecrating  prayer  by  DR. 
SPRING;  the  charge  by  REV.  MR.  FRENCH;  and  the  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship by  REV.  DR.  MORSE. 

After  the  ordination  was  finished,  the  Creed  was  read  by  DR.  SPRING,  and 
repeated  and  subscribed  by  the  Professors.  REV.  DR.  PEARSON  was  then 
declared  to  be  a  Professor  in  this  Institution,  and  invested  with  the  rights  of 
office,  by  DR.  DWIGHT  ;  and  REV.  LEONARD  WOODS,  by  DR.  PEARSON. 

PROFESSOR  WOODS  then  delivered  his  inaugural  oration,  On  the  Glory 
and  Excellency  of  the  Gospel. 


6  FIRST    MEETING    OF    THE    ALUMNI. 

The  First  meeting  of  the  Alumni  was  held  early  in 
the  afternoon,  at  the  Chapel — Dr.  Asa  D.  Smith,  of 
New  York,  presiding,  and,  after  prayer  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Meigs,  of  Ceylon,  making  the  opening 


ADDRESS. 

Fathers  and  Brethren :  —  It  seems  but  a  slight  service  to 
"  moderate,"  as  the  ecclesiastical  phrase  is,  a  meeting  of  gen- 
tlemen whose  life-aim  it  has  been  to  make  their  moderation 
"  known  unto  all  men."  Yet,  as  you  called  me  to  it,  I  had, 
I  confess,  in  one  point  of  view,  some  little  misgiving.  This 
is  the  first  public  gathering  of  our  Semi- Centennial  Anniver- 
sary. The  key-note  of  this  whole  Jubilee  is  now  to  be  struck. 
How  important  that  the  right  touch  be  given — that  our  ear- 
liest thoughts  and  emotions  be  of  such  sort  as  shall  send  an 
elevating  and  sanctifying  influence  through  the  whole  series 
of  exercises. 


PROFESSOR  PEARSON,  in  consequence  of  ill  health  and  fatigue,  was 
obliged  to  decline  delivering  his  oration.  The  solemnities  were  concluded 
with  a  prayer  by  DR.  DWIGHT. 

The  several  pieces  of  sacred  music,  performed  by  the  Middlesex,  Essex, 
and  Suffolk  Musical  Associations,  and  other  respectable  gentlemen,  both  of 
the  clergy  and  laity,  who  politely  gave  their  assistance  in  the  solemnities  of 
the  day,  were  very  highly  gratifying  to  the  audience.  The  Anthem,  which 
closed  the  whole,  one  of  the  first  Musical  compositions,  was  sung  in  a  manner 
equally  honorable  to  the  piece  and  to  the  performers. 

The  assembly  convened  from  various  parts  of  the  country  on  this  novel 
and  interesting  occasion,  was  numerous  and  highly  respectable.  The  day 
was  delightful,  and  the  satisfaction  generally  expressed  gave  great  pleasure 
to  the  friends  of  the  Institution.  This  auspicious  commencement  of  an  in- 
stitution so  important  to  the  interests  of  religion  in  our  country,  will,  we  hope, 
prove  a  bright  morning  of  a  prosperous  day.  ~—  Panoplist,  New  Series,  Yol. 
I.  p.  191. 


DR.  SMITH'S  ADDRESS. 


There  are  various  lights  in  which  this  occasion  may  be 
viewed.  We  welcome  it,  first  of  all,  as  a  feast  of  memory. 
How,  as  we  gather  here,  do  the  scenes  of  other  days  pass  be- 
fore'us  !  Borne  back,  in  my  own  thought,  some  twenty-four 
years,  I  see,  once  more,  in  their  old  places  and  their  old  at- 
titudes, those  noble  men  at  whose  feet  I  loved  to  sit.  In 
yonder  seat  is  the  stalwart  form  of  WOODS,  itself  no  unfit- 
ting type  of  his  massive  theology.  Hard  by  is  the  slight, 
attenuated  frame  of  the  accomplished  PORTER,  the  premoni- 
.  tory  hectic  already  tinging  his  cheek.  STUART  is  here,  too. 
I  catch  again  the  glance  of  his  quick,  restless,  penetrating 
eye,  an  apt  emblem  of  his  active,  acute,  discursive  intellect. 
Another  of  our  venerated  teachers  I  rejoice  to  recognize  as 
still  among  the  living — lifting  upon  us,  to-day  as  of  old,  the 
light  of  his  benignant  countenance.  Dear  fellow-students, 
too,  who  have  sunk  to  their  rest,  start,  at  the  bidding  of  mem- 
ory, into  life  again,  and  cluster  about  us. 

Nor  may  this  be  less  fitly  styled,  a  feast  of  friendship.  It 
is  delightful,  as  we  come  up  here  from  our  various  fields  of 
labor  —  some  of  them  beyond  the  great  and  wide  sea  —  to 
look  upon  each  others'  faces,  to  grasp  each  others'  hands,  to 
recount  to  one  another  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  our  pilgrimage, 
and,  with  many  an  interchange  of  sympathy,  to  brighten  the 
chain  of  mutual  love. 

These,  however,  are  but  minor  uses  of  the  occasion.  Its 
highest  ends  will  be  unattained  if  we  limit  ourselves  to  mere 
personal  gratification  —  to  pleasant  sensibilities  and  touching 
memories.  Above  all  these,  towers  to  our  thought  the  glory 
of  Christ.  We  shall  seek  chiefly  to  exalt  that  dear  name 
which,  to  the  eye  of  faith,  has  ever  been  written  in  bright  and 
beautiful  characters  upon  these  walls. 

As  from  this  higher  stand-point  we  review  the  period 
which  has  elapsed  since  our  graduation-day,  we  rejoice,  first 
of  all,  in  the  accelerated  progress  of  Christianity.  More  and 
more,  as  the  years  have  gone  by,  has  she  been  subordinating 
all  things  to  her  own  glorious  ends.  Science,  literature,  art, 


8  MORTUARY     STATISTICS. 

commerce,  all  forms  of  human  industry,  all  changes,  even 
grim  war  itself,  have  been  more  and  more  her  ready  and  effi- 
cient servitors.  More  and  more  has  she  been  revealing  her- 
self as  central  and  regnant.  We  praise  God  for  it.  And 
though  the  burdens  of  the  ministry  are  many  and  weighty — 
almost  crushing  at  times  —  it  still  seems  to  us  a  blessed 
work.  This  whole  occasion  will  serve  to  magnify  it.  Our 
hearts  will  all,  I  am  sure,  be  blent  together  in  a  new  song  of 
thanksgiving,  more  fervent  and  rapturous  than  ever,  that  we 
have  been  permitted,  in  such  an  age,  to  preach  "  the  unsearch- 
able riches  of  Christ." 

I  will  not  longer  detain  you  with  prefatory  words.  Several 
brethren  will  be  called  on  to  speak  upon  particular  topics, 
and  opportunity  will  then  be  given  for  voluntary  remarks. 

The  necrology  of  the  year  was  now  recited  by  Dr. 
Joseph  S.  Clark,  of  Boston,  furnishing  some  interesting 
obituary  notices  of  Alumni  recently  deceased,  and  con- 
cluding with  the  following 


MORTUARY   STATISTICS. 

So  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  418  deaths  have  occurred 
among  those  who  have  been  connected  with  the  Seminary  ; 
which  is  a  fraction  over  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  whole  num- 
ber. About  three-quarters  of  these  were  born  in  New  Eng- 
land ;  while  scarcely  more  than  one-third  are  buried  here. 
Their  graves  are  found  on  all  the  four  continents  of  the 
earth,  and  on  many  of  her  islands.  The  six  New  England 
States  contain  174 ;  New  York,  27 ;  Ohio,  16 ;  South  Caro- 
lina, Indiana,  and  Illinois,  7  each  ;  Virginia,  6  ;  New  Jersey? 
Missouri  and  Louisiana,  5  each ;  Pennsylvania,  Georgia, 
Michigan,  Iowa  and  Tennessee,  have  each  4 ;  North  Carolina, 
3  ;  Maryland,  Wisconsin,  Kentucky,  and  Mississippi,  2  each ; 
Alabama,  Texas,  Minnesota,  and  the  District  of  Columbia, 


MORTUARY     S  T  ATISTICS.  9 

each  have  1 ;  4  sleep  in  the  Indian  Territory,  2  in  Can- 
ada, and  1  in  Nova  Scotia.  On  the  Continent  of  Asia, 
scattered,  through  various  countries  and  kingdoms,  are  17  J 
in  Africa,  6 ;  in  different  parts  of  Europe,  6  ;  on  the  islands 
of  the  ocean,  10  ;  and  4  are  buried  in  the  deep.  The  burial 
places  of  the  remaining  74  cannot  be  certainly  determined 
from  any  obituary  notice  that  has  yet  come  to  hand  ;  though 
it  is  presumed  that  the  committee  to  whom  this  general  de- 
partment has  been  given  in  charge,  will  be  able,  in  due  time, 
to  supply  the  deficient  information. 

The  departed  were  variously  occupied  in  important  posts 
when  called  to  their  rest.  Besides  the  pastoral  office,  in 
which  most  of  them  were  laboring,  38  were  connected  with 
the  different  Educational  departments,  as  presidents  of  col- 
leges, professors  in  literary  or  theological  institutions,  pre- 
ceptors of  academies,  and  teachers  of  public  or  private 
schools ;  36  were  missionaries  to  the  heathen ;  13  were  sec- 
retaries or  agents  of  benevolent  societies  ;  3  were  editors  of 
religious  periodicals,  and  3  were  physicians. 

The  following  facts  and  deductions  have  respect  to  such 
only  as  completed  their  theological  course  in  this  Seminary, 
and  are  therefore  counted  among  the  Alumni,  —  288  in  all. 
The  average  number  of  years  which  these  288  had  reached 
on  leaving  the  Seminary,  was  25.  This  ascertained  fact,  to- 
gether with  the  date  of  each  one's  death,  affords  the  means 
of  calculating  the  probable  length  of  ministerial  life  —  or,  at 
least,  of  determining  the  proximate  number  in  each  graduat- 
ing class  whose  ministry  (supposing  it  to  continue  through 
life)  will  measure  any  particular  period  of  time,  up  to  fifty 
years. 

Without  giving  the  details  of  a  Life  Table,  which,  on  such 
an  occasion  as  this,  would  be  deemed  insufferably  dry,  these 
few  general  deductions  from  such  a  table,  prepared  with 
much  care,  are  presented.  —  During  the  first  decade,  or  period 
of  ten  years,  the  number  of  graduates  was  179,  of  which  83, 
or  46  per  cent.,  still  remain.  During  the  second  decade  273 

9 


10  REV.  MR.  WALDO'S   REMARKS. 

were  graduated,  and  182,  or  67  per  cent.,  now  survive.  In  the 
third  decade  the  graduates  were  313,  of  which  265,  or  85  per 
cent,  are  living  yet.  During  the  fourth  decade  275  left  the 
Seminary,  and  232,  or  85  per  cent.,  remain.  During  the  fifth 
and  last  decade,  the  number  of  graduates,  including  the  pres- 
ent graduating  class,  has  been  250,  of  whom  240,  or  96  per 
cent.,  survive.  The  whole  number  of  graduates  during  the 
half  century,  is  1290,  of  which  1002,  or  nearly  78  per  cent., 
are  still  living. 

The  same  table,  together  with  the  foregoing  deductions, 
furnishes  a  reasonable  probability,  that  96  graduates  out  of 
every  100,  will  have  5  years  to  spend  in  their  Master's  Vine- 
yard ;  that  85  out  of  each  100  will  have  15  years ;  that  82  will 
have  25  years ;  that  64  will  be  continued  35  years ;  that  34 
will  reach  45  years ;  and  that  25  out  of  the  hundred  will  be 
permitted  to  preach  a  Semi-centennial  discourse.  Or,  to 
vary  the  form  of  this  statement,  supposing  the  classes  in  the 
future  to  equal  those  in  the  past  —  which  have  averaged 
about  25  graduates  each  —  and  supposing  the  same  law  of 
mortality  to  prevail  hereafter,  as  heretofore,  each  class,  at  the 
end  of  five  years  from  graduation,  may  be  expected  to  num- 
ber 24  members ;  at  the  end  of  15  years,  22  members ;  at  the 
end  of  25  years,  21  members  ;  at  the  end  of  35  years,  17 
members ;  at  the  end  of  45  years,  11  members  ;  and  at  the 
close  of  a  half  century  5  or  6  members. 

Kev.  Daniel  Waldo,  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  late  chaplain 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  Congress,  —  "still 
active  and  bright  at  the  age  of  nearly  ninety-six,"  —  a 
contemporary  and  an  intimate  acquaintance  of  some  of 
the  projectors  of  the  Seminary,  then  addressed  the  au- 
dience with  great  animation,  dwelling  particular^  upon 
some  pleasing  reminiscences  of  Dr.  Eliphalet  Pearson, 
the  first  Preceptor  of  Phillips  Academy,  and  the  first 
Professor  of  Sacred  Literature  in  the  Theological  Sem- 


REV.    MR.    COE'S     REMARKS.  11 

inary  ;  whose  agency  at  every  stage  in  the  organization 
of  the  Institution  was  specially  prominent,  and  whom- 
Mr.  Waldo,  with  hearty  eulogy,  extolled  as  "  the  Longi- 
nus  who  made  Boston  the  Athens  of  New  England  "  — 
eminent  as  an  instructor  both  at  Andover  and  Cam- 
bridge, for  critical  taste,  varied  learning,  earnest  piety, 
and  habitual  urbanity. 

Eev.  Noah  Coe,  of  New  Haven, —  class  of  1810  — 
added  some  racy  anecdotes  illustrating  Dr.  Pearson's 
traits  as  an  Instructor  here,  especially  wrhen  criticizing 
the  translations  from  English  into  Latin,  which  students 
were  then  required  to  prepare  from  Clark's  Intro- 
duction. 

The  learned  Professor  always  saw  something  to  cor- 
rect. One  day  some  of  the  class  found  the  original 
Latin  in  Justin  which  Clark  had  translated,  and  read 
it  to  the  Professor  as  their  own ;  but  he  criticized,  as 
usual ;  and  when  told  where  it  was  found,  replied  :  "  I 
can't  help  it ;  Justin  did  n't  live  in  the  Augustan  age  ; 
he  could  not  read  his  own  Latin."  At  another  exercise 
they  brought  in  a  passage  from  Caesar's  Commentaries 
in  the  same  way ;  but  he  at  once  said,  "  It  must  be  an 
interpolation ;  Csesar  never  wrote  such  Latin  !  " 

Dr.  Hawes,  of  Hartford,  now  responded  to  a  call  from 
the  Chair,  in  the  following 


ADDRESS. 

It  seems  strange,  —  I  can  hardly  realize  my  personal  iden- 
tity, as  I  stand  here  to-day,  and  remember  that  forty-five 
years  ago  I  first  looked  upon  these  goodly  scenes  and  became 
a  member  of  this  sacred  Seminary, — then  in  the  full  vigor 


12  DR.    HAWES'S    ADDRESS. 

and  buoyancy  of  youthful  manhood.  Now  I  am  among  the 
ancients,  and  on  that  account,  I  suppose,  am  called  upon  to 
speak  of  the  ancients,  especially  of  two  venerated  ones,  long 
since  gone  from  the  midst  of  us,  and  whose  names  have  just 
been  announced  in  your  hearing.  I  readily  obey  the  call, 
though  conscious  that  I  shall  be  able  to  answer  to  it  only  in 
a  very  inadequate  manner.  But  why,  it  may  be  asked  by 
some  juniors,  present,  are  the  names  of  Spring  and  Worcester 
coupled  together  in  the  programme  of  the  exercises  of  this 
occasion  ?  They  were  born  in  different  States,  were  educated 
at  different  colleges,  and  were  separated  from  each  other  in 
age  by  some  twenty-four  years.  And  yet,  there  is  a  propriety 
in  their  being  spoken  of  together  on  an  occasion  like  the 
present ;  for  they  were  united  and  efficient  agents  in  originat- 
ing and  establishing  two  of  the  most  important  and  beneficent 
institutions  of  our  country,  —  the  first  American  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  and  the  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions.  They  were,  from  the  first,  co-workers  in  both 
these  enterprises ;  though,  subsequently,  the  agency  of  Dr. 
Spring  became  more  prominent  in  relation  to  the  Seminary, 
and  that  of  Dr.  Worcester  in  relation  to  the  American  Board. 
They  were  raised  up  and  qualified  in  the  providence  of  God, 
each  to  do  a  great  work  in  his  day,  and  each  has  left  a  mark 
on  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  which  no  time  will  efface. 
With  the  name  of  Dr.  Spring  I  became  somewhat  familiar 
while  fitting  for  college  in  Northbridge,  his  native  town.  But 
I  never  saw  him  till  after  my  connection  with  the  Seminary, 
in  the  fall  of  1813.  And  well  do  I  remember  the  time  when 
I  first  looked  upon  him.  He  was  walking  across  the  grounds 
in  front  of  the  Seminary  with  Dr.  Woods,  to  attend  evening 
prayer  in  the  chapel.  I  was  much  struck  with  his  appear- 
ance, —  tall,  erect,  and  dignified  in  his  person,  with  something 
soldierlike  in  his  step,  —  and  naturally  enough  ;  for  he  served 
two  years  as  chaplain  in  the  Continental  Army,  and  spent 
some  time  in  the  family  of  Washington  :  a  gentleman  of  the 
old  school,  both  in  dress,  in  manners,  and  in  mien,  he  would 


DR.    HAWES'fe     ADDRESS.  13 

leave  the  impression  that  he  was  a  man  of  mark,  wherever 
he  might  appear.  His  mind  was  strong  and  discriminating^ 
rather  than  elegant  and  tasteful ;  and  his  preaching  partook 
more  of  the  argumentative  and  metaphysical,  than  of  the 
popular  and  attractive,  though  his  appeals  from  the  pulpit 
were  often  deeply  solemn  and  impressive.  He  was  entirely 
fearless  in  declaring  what  he  believed  to  be  the  counsel  of 
God  ;  and  having  established  a  point  of  doctrine  or  duty,  he 
was  sure  to  apply  it  with  great  force  to  the  conscience  and 
heart.  He  had  not  learnt  the  modern  mode  of  sermonizing, 
that  of  concealing  the  plan  of  discourse,  or  having  none.  He 
always  stated  what  he  meant  to  do,  did  it,  and  then  made  use 
of  it  by  showing  and  pressing  home  its  practical  bearings. 
In  regard  to  Dr.  Spring's  theology,  it  was  decidedly  Calvin- 
istic,  with  a  pretty  large  spicing  of  Hopldnsianism  infused 
into  it ;  enough,  at  least,  to  give  it  point  and  stiffening,  and 
keep  him  from  deviating  a  hair  from  what  he  believed  to  be 
right  and  true.  And  I  venture  to  express  the  opinion  that,  it 
was  this  trait  of  his  character,  this  element  of  his  theology, 
which  held  him  steadfast  when  powerful  influences  were  at 
one  time  at  work  to  draw  him  over  to  a  somewhat  softer  and 
more  liberal  creed  in  the  founding  of  this  Seminary,  and 
which  finally  fixed  it  upon  a  Confession  of  Faith  thoroughly 
orthodox  and  true.  On  that  basis  may  it  stand  and  prosper 
forever.  Dr.  Spring  could  make  no  compromise  with  error. 
It  was  with  him  unconditional  submission,  or  no  salvation. 
To  show  this  let  me  state  a  fact.  Shortly  after  the  publica- 
tion of  the  first  volume  of  Dr.  Dwight's  theology,  I  had  an 
interview  with  Dr.  Emmons  in  his  study.  The  conversation 
turned  on  the  recently  published  volume,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  read  me  a  letter  from  Dr.  Spring,  containing  his  re- 
marks on  the  work.  After  passing  various  criticisms,  some 
commendatory  and  some  otherwise,  he  closed  with  saying : 
"  Certainly  the  Lord  must  reign,  or  he  would  never  have  suf- 
fered such  a  book  to  be  published."  The  remark  was  severe, 
and  it  is  presumed  would  not  be  repeated,  certainly  not  in  the 


14  DR.    HAWES'S    ADDRESS. 

same  form,  if  the  author  were  now  alive.  But  it  shows  the 
tenacity  and  earnestness  with  which  Dr.  Spring  adhered  to 
what  he  believed  to  be  the  truth.  The  language  struck  me 
with  force  at  the  time,  and  seemed  to  me  to  convey  a  senti- 
ment of  much  practical  use  in  this  trying,  mysterious  world. 
At  least,  I  have  found  it  so  in  my  own  case.  Whenever  1 
see  anything  taking  place,  strange,  unaccountable,  out  of  the 
way,  unexpected,  uncalled  for,  and  apparently  disastrous, 
whether  in  church  or  state,  in  politics  or  religion,  I  instinct- 
ively fall  back  on  the  sentiment,  and  gather  comfort  from  it — 
the  Lord  must  reign,  or  he  would  never  suffer  such  a  measure 
or  course  of  events  to  occur,  and  out  of  it  is  to  come  some 
new  development  of  his  great  plan. 

Dr.  Spring  was  eminently  a  public  man ;  he  had  a  large,  lib- 
eral heart,  and  loved  to  devise  liberal  things  in  promoting  the 
cause  of  Christ.  He  bore  an  active  part  in  nearly  all  the  be- 
nevolent enterprises  of  his  time,  especially  in  the  organization 
of  the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society,  and  the  General 
Association  of  the  State,  out  of  which,  and  under  the  direct 
influence  of  himself  and  Dr.  Worcester,  sprang  the  American 
Board.  He  was  remarkable  for  his  practical  wisdom,  for  his 
prudence  and  caution.  He  never  committed  himself  till  he 
knew  on  what  ground  he  was  to  stand,  and  what  was  likely 
to  be  the  issue  of  any  measure  he  might  adopt.  And  this 
caution  appeared  in  small  as  well  as  in  great  things. 

The  last  vacation  of  my  Seminary  life  I  was  desirous  to 
spend  in  his  family ;  and,  having  some  slight  acquaintance 
with  him,  I  ventured  to  write  him  a  line  to  that  effect.  Be- 
fore answering,  he  had  the  precaution  to  inquire,  in  a  letter  to 
Dr.  Woods,  whether  I  was  a  safe  and  proper  man  to  be  in  his 
family,  and  among  his  people  ;  and  if  he  thought  I  was,  he 
might  signify  to  me  that  I  might  come.  My  good  Professor, 
having  rather  a  favorable  opinion  of  me,  thought  I  might  go, 
and  I  went ;  and  I  may  say,  I  never  spent  a  few  weeks 
more  pleasantly,  or  more  usefully  to  myself,  than  in  that 
excellent  family  at  Newburyport.  At  his  request  I  preached 


DR.    HAWES'S    ADDRESS.  15 

several  times  to  his  people,  and  was,  on  the  whole,  tolerably 
well  received.  As  I  was  sitting  with  the  Doctor  one  day  in  his_ 
study,  his  excellent  wife,  a  perfect  model  of  a  Christian  lady, 
being  present,  he  turned  to  me,  and,  somewhat  abruptly,  asked, 
— "  Hawes,  have  any  of  my  people  been  speaking  to  you 
of  becoming  my  colleague  ?  "  I  was  obliged  to  confess  they 
had ;  when  he  added,  with  striking  significance  of  look  and 
manner,  "  Well,  I  don't  like  it ;  I  should  be  as  ready  to 
have  you  for  my  colleague  as  any  other  man  ;  but  I  do  not 
like  it,  that  they  should  put  the  old  man  into  a  cart,  drive 
him  off  and  tip  him  up  before  I  pull  out  the  pin." — "  Ah," 
said  Mrs.  Spring,  in  a  kind,  gentle  voice,  "  how  hard  it  is, 
my  dear,  to  grow  old  ! "  Hard  indeed  it  is,  in  some  sense, 
especially  to  grow  old  gracefully  ;  and  how  to  do  so  is  a  prob- 
lem which  we  all  would  do  well  to  study ;  as,  if  we  live 
long  enough,  we  shall  be  likely  to  have  occasion  to  practise 
upon  it. 

Dr.  Spring's  great  work  was,  no  doubt,  in  projecting  and 
giving  form  and  existence  to  this  Seminary.  He  so  regarded 
it  on  his  dying-bed.  When  asked,  a  short  time  before  his 
death,  on  what  parts  of  his  life  he  could  dwell  with  the  most 
pleasure,  he  replied,  "  That  I  have  been  permitted  to  preach 
the  gospel;  that  I  have  been  enabled  to  preach  what  I  be- 
lieved to  be  the  system  of  truth ;  and  that  I  have  been  the 
unexpected  instrument  of  establishing  the  Seminary  at  An- 
dover."  He  was  indeed  the  soul  of  the  enterprise  ;  and  the 
Seminary  owes  its  existence  to  his  forming  mind,  to  his  un- 
discouraged  efforts  amid  complicated  difficulties,  and  his  suc- 
cessful solicitation  of  funds.  In  the  details  of  the  plan  and 
the  completion  of  the  arrangements  he  was  greatly  aided  by 
the  counsel  and  effective  cooperation  of  others,  —  as  Drs. 
Woods,  Morse,  Eliphalet  Pearson,  and  though  last,  not  least, 
Samuel  Worcester. 

From  the  first,  Dr.  Worcester  took  a  lively  interest  in 
the  enterprise,  and  did  much  to  harmonize  the  conflicting 
views  and  influences  which  attended  and  embarrassed  its 


16  DR.    HAWES'S    ADDRESS. 

inception.  With  this  great  and  good  man  I  was  less  ac- 
quainted than  with  Dr.  Spring.  I  knew  enough  of  him,  how- 
ever, to  inspire  me  with  profound  respect  for  his  talents,  his 
piety,  and,  indeed,  his  whole  character.  Dignified  and  com- 
manding in  his  person,  of  a  kind  and  benignant  look,  of  a 
tender,  persuasive  voice,  and  manners  rather  staid  and  re- 
served, especially  to  strangers ;  his  mind  was  of  a  very  high 
order,  richly  stored  with  various  learning,  and  able  to  bring 
out  its  strength  and  its  resources  with  great  efficiency  to  meet 
any  emergency  that  might  arise  ;  incessantly  laborious,  ever 
patient  of  toil  in  the  service  of  his  Saviour,  he  had  a  faith,  a 
hope,  and  a  perseverance  which  seemed  never  to  forsake  him, 
but  rather  to  increase  in  strength  as  difficulties  pressed  around 
him,  and  drove  him  nearer  to  the  great  source  of  all  good. 
As  a  controversialist  he  wielded  a  sharp  and  a  strong  pen,  and 
an  antagonist  having  encountered  him  once  would  not  care 
to  renew  the  contest.  As  a  preacher  he  was  calm,  serious, 
and  instructive ;  thoroughly  evangelical  in  doctrine,  logical  in 
his  plan  of  discourse,  searching  and  persuasive  in  his  appeals, 
and  faithful  in  his  application  of  truth  to  the  heart  and  con- 
science of  his  hearers.  As  a  wise  counsellor  he  had  few 
equals  ;  as  a  projector  of  good  designs,  and  for  efficient  skill 
in  executing  them,  he  was  unsurpassed  ;  he  had  a  far-reach- 
ing, comprehensive  mind,  and  a  warm,  devoted  heart ;  and 
though  he  died  comparatively  young,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  he 
lived  long  enough  to  do  a  work,  the  good  effects  of  which  can 
never  be  known  till  they  are  revealed  in  the  light  of  the  great 
day.  That  work,  though  varied  and  comprehensive,  was  in 
a  special  sense  what  he  did  in  originating  and  organizing  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions- 
The  germ  of  the  Board  had  its  birth  in  the  mind  of  Worces- 
ter. He  suggested  it  to  Dr.  Spring  while  riding  together  in 
a  chaise  from  Andover  to  Bradford,  to  attend  the  meeting  of 
the  General  Association  of  the  State  ;  and  after  consultation 
had  been  had  in  this  place  with  Professors  Griffin,  Woods, 
and  Stuart,  on  the  subject  of  commencing  a  mission  to  the 


DR.    HAWES'S     ADDRESS.  17 

heathen.  The  next  day  the  plan  was  communicated  to  the 
Association,  and  before  the  close  of  the  session,  under  the_ 
wise  counsel  of  Worcester  in  connection  with  Spring  and 
others,  it  assumed  an  organic  form,  and  has  now  grown  into 
an  institution  whose  benificent  influence  is  felt  in  all  parts  of 
the  world.  Dr.  "Worcester  was  the  soul  of  this  enterprise,  as 
Dr.  Spring  was  of  the  Seminary.  And  how  delightfully  true 
it  is,  as  good  Mrs.  Norris  of  Salem  said  to  her  husband,  when 
she  would  persuade  him  to  give  ten  thousand  dollars  to  aid 
in  founding  the  Seminary,  — "  The  Theological  School  and 
the  Missionary  enterprise  are  the  same  thing.  We  must  raise 
up  ministers  if  we  would  have  men  to  go  as  missionaries." 
And  so  it  has  been  ;  the  Seminary  has  furnished  missionaries, 
and  the  Board  has  sent  them  forth  and  sustained  them  on  the 
field.  Both  have  cooperated  in  carrying  forward  the  same 
great  benevolent  work,  that  of  spreading  the  gospel  through 
the  world.  And  how  different  the  results  from  what  were 
anticipated  by  the  founders  of  these  two  cognate  and  coop- 
erative Institutions.  Dr.  Spring  once  said,  he  hoped  the  day 
would  come  when  there  would  be  as  many  as  twelve  young 
men  in  the  Seminary  studying  for  the  ministry ;  and  it  re- 
quired all  the  faith  and  enterprise  of  Worcester  to  venture  on 
sending  out,  in  the  beginning  of  the  enterprise,  as  many  as 
four  young  men  as  foreign  missionaries.  Mark  the  result ;  — 
more  than  two  thousand  have  been  connected  with  the  Sem- 
inary, and  some  hundred  and  twenty  have  gone  forth  from  its 
halls  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  heathen. 

I  recollect  that  Dr.  Worcester  and  Mr.  Evarts  spent  a  night 
at  my  house,  after  having  attended  the  ordination,  at  Goshen, 
of  the  first  missionaries  who  went  out  to  the  Sandwich  Isl- 
ands. A  report  was  abroad  that  a  Captain  Brintnal,  I  think 
of  New  Haven,  who  had  received  some  indignity  or  injury 
from  the  natives  not  long  before,  had  determined  to  return  to 
the  Islands,  and  punish  the  wrong  he  had  suffered.  It  was 
apprehended  he  might  arrive  there  about  the  time  the  mis- 
sionaries would ;  and  if  he  carried  out  his  threats,  disastrous 

3 


18  REV.    MR.    COUCH'S     REMARKS. 

consequences,  it  was  feared,  would  follow  to  the  mission.  I 
remember  well  the  remark  made  by  Dr.  Worcester,  in  the 
course  of  the  conversation  on  the  subject.  In  his  own  meek 
and  confiding  manner,  he  said  :  "  The  Lord  will  take  care  of 
Capt.  Brintnal."  And  so  he  did  ;  for  he  either  never  returned 
to  the  Islands,  or,  if  he  did,  he  was  not  suffered  to  do  any 
harm.  And  similar  would  be  his  language  were  he  present 
with  us  to-day.  With  his  heart  cleaving  with  celestial 
warmth  to  the  two  Institutions  which  he  loved  most  while 
on  earth,  he  would  say,  as  he  beheld  their  expansion  and 
their  growing  usefulness,  "  The  Lord  will  take  care  of  the 
Seminary,  and  he  will  take  care  of  the  American  Board." 
This  is  our  prayer  and  our  hope.  As  we  come  here  to-day, 
we  miss  all  the  founders  and  first  teachers  of  the  Seminary, 
and  many  other  venerated  and  loved  forms  whom  we  were 
accustomed  to  meet  on  these  anniversary  gatherings.  But 
they  are  not  dead ;  they  still  live  ;  live  in  the  happy  and 
widening  influence  of  their  deeds,  and  in  the  grateful  remem- 
brance of  hundreds  of  thousands  scattered  in  this  and  in 
other  lands,  and  of  many  in  heaven.  And  it  is  good  to  see  the 
Seminary,  our  loved  Alma  Mater,  now  in  its  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary, still  strong  and  vigorous, — well  officered,  well  manned, 
and  her  compass  set  straight  for  the  port  of  truth  and  the 
haven  of  salvation.  On  that  line  may  she  continue  to  sail, 
never  swept  from  her  course  by  any  strange  wind  of  doctrine, 
till  she  unlades  her  rich  cargo,  officers,  hands,  patrons,  friends, 
and  all,  at  the  foot  of  the  throne,  to  the  praise  and  glory  of 
Him  that  sitteth  thereon  and  reigneth  forever  and  ever. 


At  the  conclusion  of  this  address,  Eev.  Paul  Couch, 
of  North  Bridgfewatef,  a  native  of  Newburyport,  and  in 
his  childhood  an  attendant  upon  the  ministrations  of 
Dr.  Spring,  volunteered  some  interesting  impromptu 
remarks,  in  further  commemoration  of  his  revered  pas- 
tor, suggested  by  his  personal  reminiscences  of  his 


ADDRESS.  19 

preaching,  and  catechizing  the  children,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  times. 

Dr.  Withington,  of  Newbury,  was  the  next  speaker : 
and,  connecting  his  address  appropriately  with  the  pre- 
ceding tribute  to  Drs.  Spring  and  Worcester,1  said : 

It  is  impossible  to  regard  this  institution,  on  this  joyous 
day,  without  looking  back  to  those  Founders  who,  without 
intending  it,  have  here  built  a  monument  to  general  benefi- 
cence. They  have  left  us  their  example  ;  they  show  an  influ- 
ence that  survives  the  sepulchre.  They  call  upon  affluence 
to  cherish  the  vine  which  Piety  has  planted.  Even  the  ad- 
miration they  inspire  is  connected  with  duty ;  and  their  no- 
blest charities  present  us  a  work  which  is  only  begun. 

The  Hon.  WILLIAM  BARTLET  was  born  in  Newburyport,  Jan. 
31st,  1748.  The  older  persons  in  this  assembly  may  remem- 
ber the  man,  who  was  always  present  on  these  anniversaries. 
He  was  a  striking  illustration  of  a  remark  of  John  Foster : 
"  A  very  decisive  man  has  probably  more  of  the  physical 
quality  of  a  lion  in  his  composition  than  other  men."  His 

i  The  unstudied  and  touching  reference  of  Dr.  Withington  to  Dr.  Spring  in 
his  exordium,  as  noted  at  the  time,  although  not  in  his  manuscript,  deserves 
a  place  here.  "  Allow  me,"  said  he,  "so  far  to  deviate  from  my  purpose  as 
to  bear  my  testimony  also  to  Dr.  Spring.  The  gentleman  who  has  preceded 
me,  DR.  HAWES,  has  brought  him  so  distinctly  to  our  notice,  that  I  cannot 
let  the  occasion  pass  without  my  share  in  the  tribute  to  his  virtues.  I  may 
almost  say,  that  it  was  my  lot  to  stand  by  his  dying  bed ;  if  my  respected 
friend  has  told  you  how  he  lived,  I  wish  to  give  one  touch  to  the  portrait  by 
telling  you  how  he  died.  He  was  a  strong  man,  —  strong  in  his  purpose,  per- 
severing in  its  execution.  He  died  as  he  lived ;  and  habitually,  to  the  very 
last,  he  subjected  his  hopes  to  the  most  rigid  and  unsparing  trial.  I  know  not 
whether  to  characterize  his  death  as  sublime,  or  terrible, —  so  calm  the  resig- 
nation of  the  man,  yet  so  faint  the  light  of  his  personal  assurance.  '  I  have 
finished  my  work,'  he  said  to  me :  'I  have  tried  to  preach  the  Gospel,  I  have 
been  instrumental  in  establishing  the  Seminary;  and  now  the  question  is, 
has  my  motive  been  right  ?  If  it  has,  I  shall  receive  my  reward  ;  if  not,  I 


20  DR.  WITHINGTON'S   ADDRESS. 

giant  frame,  his  strong  step,  his  peculiar  head,  his  eye,  firm 
in  its  repose,  marked  the  mind  that  seldom  deviated  from  its 
own  purposes.  This  was  peculiar  in  his  lot,  that,  though  he 
was  a  transparent  man,  and  you  could  look  through  him  as 
through  a  prismatic  glass,  the  world  contrived  to  misinter- 
pret his  character.  He  was  the  same  man  in  his  close  pru- 
dentials, and  his  liberal  charities.  He  saved  that  he  might 
have  power  to  give.  He  had  risen  himself  from  comparative 
poverty  by  great  industry,  great  frugality,  and  an  intensity  of 
purpose  so  uniform,  that  it  seemed  to  him  necessary  and  nat- 
ural ;  and  he  was  too  apt  to  judge  of  others  by  his  own 
standard  of  action  and  its  success.  He  was  apt  to  regard 
poverty  as  half  a  crime,  at  least ;  and  as  a  providential  pun- 
ishment to  negligence,  carelessness,  imbecility  and  profusion. 
The  onus  probandi  lay  heavy  on  the  suppliant  that  asked  his 
aid.  His  great  punctuality  in  demanding  all  his  dues,  under 
all  circumstances,  though  a  public  benefit,  was  to  his  reputa- 
tion a  loss ;  and,  what  was  more,  he  had  been  so  often,  so 
unjustly  blamed,  and  he  was  so  independent,  that  he  would 
not  lift  his  finger  to  remove  any  amount  of  opprobrium  that 
might  be  heaped  upon  him.  Hence  his  justice  was  rigorous, 
and  his  common  charities  were  not  always  winning. 

He  did  good,  however,  in  his  commercial  life,  in  his  own 
unpopular  way.  The  late  expansion  of  credit,  and  the  pres- 
ent ruinous  reaction,  are  a  striking  proof  of  the  wisdom  of 
his  maxims.  It  was  to  prevent  such  a  state  of  things  that  all 
his  energies  were  directed.  Had  his  punctuality  been  fol- 
lowed instead  of  being  so  bitterly  censured,  the  failure  of  the 
Ohio  Trust  Company,  in  1857,  could  not  have  spread  ruin 
through  a  nation. 

The  moving  genius  of  his  great  liberality  towards  this 
Seminary,  was,  no  doubt,  DR.  SPRING.  It  was  Dr.  Spring's 
theology  that  shaped  his  convictions — it  was  his  exhortations 

shall  lose  it.  I  hardly  know  what  to  believe  about  myself.  But  It  matters 
not.  We  are  but  atoms,  and  it  is  of  little  consequence  what  becomes  of  us. 
God  will  be  glorified  in  the  result,  whatever  it  may  be.' " 


DR.  WITHINGTON'S   ADDRESS.  21 

that  moved  his  heart.  In  this,  however,  he  was  by  no  means 
a  passive  instrument.  I  was  told  by  DR.  MORSE,  of  Charles- 
town,  that  it  was  owing  to  Mr.  Bartlet's  firmness  that  the 
union  between  the  two  sections  of  orthodoxy  was  effected ;  a 
union  which  has  led  to  the  most  beneficial  effects. 

In  a  man  of  such  habits  and  character,  it  is  obvious  that 
religion,  if  found,  must  develop  itself,  modified  by  individ- 
ualism. That  it  had  a  great  power  over  him,  that  it  im- 
pressed a  great  awe  on  his  mind,  all  could  see  on  the  slight- 
est acquaintance.  That  it  did  not  remove  all  the  faults  of  his 
nature  was  a  defect  which  he  shared  with  most  of  our  race. 
Whether  it  sanctified  his  heart,  and  made  him  a  regenerate 
man,  is  a  question  which  we,  who  share  his  bounty,  shall 
hardly  venture  to  settle.  We  leave  him  to  his  God,  honestly 
saying  that  on  his  sepulchre  judicious  Charity  might  write 
an  inscription  which  popular  severity,  though  inclined  to 
question >  would  hardly  dare  to  efface. 

Mr.  Bartlet  died  Feb.  8th,  1841,  aged  93  years  and  8  days. 
His  eye  was  not  dim,  nor  his  natural  force  abated. 

In  the  Oak  Hill  Cemetery,  in  Newburyport,  there  is  a  mas- 
sive granite  monument,  of  Doric  simplicity,  which  might  al- 
most be  understood  without  an  inscription,  so  characteristic 
is  it  of  the  man  whose  bones  it  commemorates  and  conceals. 
It  is  engraved  thus,  on  the  southern  side,  on  an  inserted  slate  : 

In  lemurs 

OF    THE 

HON.    "WILLIAM    BARTLET, 

WHO  DIED  FEB.  VIII.  MDCCCXLI, 

AGED  XCIII  YEARS. 

ALSO, 

BETTY,    HIS    WIFE, 

WHO  DIED  JAX.  XXIV,  MDCCCXXV. 
AGED  LXXX. 


22  DR.  WITHINGTON'S   ADDRESS. 

On  the  opposite  side  — 

DESCENDED 
FROM  THE  FIRST  SETTLERS  OF 

ANCIENT  NEWBURY, 

HIS  FIRMNESS,  DECISION  OF  CHARACTER,  AND  HABITS  OF 

THOUGHT  AND  ACTION 
EXHIBITED     TO     POSTERITY, 
THE  QUALITIES  OF  HIS  WORTHY  ANCESTRY. 

BY  HIS  ENTERPRISE 

HIS    NATIVE     TOWN   WAS    BENEFITED     AND    IMPROVED. 
HIS  NAME  WAS  LONG  FAMILIAR, 

BOTH  IN  HIS  COUNTRY  AND  OTHER  LANDS, 
AS   A 

DISTINGUISHED  MERCHANT, 

AND   A 

LIBERAL  PATRON  OF   THEOLOGICAL  LEARNING. 

Thus  do  the  names  of  husband  and  wife  stand  in  social 
perpetuity  on  the  solid  granite.  We  have  the  best  evidence 
that  the  wife  approved  of  all  her  husband's  gifts  to  theologi- 
cal learning  ;  and  the  earlier  students  of  this  Seminary  might 
show  similar  proofs  of  her  care  and  kindness  to  that  which  the 
widows,  in  Peter's  day,  exhibited  in  the  coats  and  garments 
which  their  benefactress  made  while  she  ivas  ivith  them. 

MOSES  BROWN  was  a  man  of  a  different  type.  He  was 
judicious,  mild,  generous  and  unpretending.  His  charities 
were  universal.  Everybody  said  that  his  success  in  life  was 
the  grateful  reward  of  his  skill  and  industry.  He  was  a  plain 
Puritan  gentleman.  Neither  Mr.  Bartlet  nor  Mr.  Brown  had 
the  least  disposition  to  conceal  their  origin.  Perhaps  they 
were  a  little  vain  of  the  efforts  which  had  led  to  such  signal 
success.  An  incident  (of  no  great  importance)  may  exem- 
plify. Mr.  Brown  originally  had  been  a  chaise-maker  ;  he  had 


DR.  WITHINGTON'S   ADDRESS.  23 

a  master  of  one  of  his  vessels  who  was  originally  a  cooper,  on 
the  wharf.  Brown  had  risen  from  a  chaise-maker  to  be 
owner  of  the  wharf  and  the  vessels,  and  the  cooper  had  risen 
to  command  one  of  his  larger  craft.  One  day,  as  the  brig 
was  casting  off,  and  the  commander  was  walking,  with  due 
vociferation,  among  his  men,  there  hung  over  the  stern  of  the 
brig  one  of  those  large,  round  implements  for  hoisting  casks 
on  board,  which  might  somewhat  resemble  either  a  hoop  or 
a  wheel.  Brown  was  on  the  wharf,  and,  in  a  sly  way,  asked 
the  captain,  "  What  is  that  which  hangs  on  your  taffrail,  cap- 
tain ?  "  The  man  of  dignity  looked  round,  and,  after  inspect- 
ing the  object,  replied,  —  "I  don't  know,  sir,  unless  it  be  a 
chaise-wheel ! " 

The  NORRISES,  husband  and  wife,  I  never  knew.  But  in  the 
Panoplist  of  March,  1809,  it  is  said,  "  Religion  was  the  glory 
of  this  remarkable  man." 1  His  life  was  consistent  with  the 


1  We  here  insert  the  entire  obituary  referred  to  by  Dr.  Withington  : 
The  late  Hon.  John  Norris,  Esq.,  of  Salem,  the  excellent  and  lamented 
subject  of  the  following  sketch,  was  favored  with  respectable  parentage.  His 
mind  was  originally  formed,  and  by  an  early  and  useful  education  well  pre- 
pared for  mercantile  employment,  in  which  he  was  eminent.  By  unremit- 
ting industry,  and  judicious  management  of  his  commercial  concerns,  he 
realized,  at  the  meridian  of  life,  an  ample  fortune.  As  a  merchant,  he  was 
just,  punctual,  and  honorable.  The  law  of  rectitude  was  in  his  heart,  and 
the  balances  of  equity  in  his  hand.  While  attentive  to  his  own  interest,  he 
was  also  attentive  to  the  interest  of  others.  The  prosperity  of  honest  men 
gave  him  pleasure.  In  his  commercial  intercourse  with  them,  it  was  his 
study  to  render  the  advantage  mutual.  Those  whom  he  employed,  he 
amply  compensated  for  their  attention  and  labor,  and  by  gentle,  friendly 
treatment,  attached  them  to  his  person  and  interest. 

As  a  neighbor,  he  was  humane  and  condescending.  To  perform  acts  of 
kindness,  and  confer  favors  in  a  simple  and  obliging  manner,  was  his  amia- 
ble habit.  He  always  received  his  friends  and  connections  with  a  cheerful 
smile,  which  bade  them  welcome  to  his  hospitable  mansion.  Nor  was  he  for- 
getful to  entertain  strangers,  especially  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  for  whom  he 
had  a  peculiar  regard,  for  their  ivork's  sake. 


24  DR.  WITHINGTON'S  ADDRESS. 

great  deed  which  consecrates  his  memory  here.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Senate  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  one  of  the 
trio  which  first  opened  this  fountain  of  charity  and  theologi- 
cal education.  It  is  remarkable,  however,  that  not  one  of  the 

To  the  poor  his  heart  and  hand  were  open.  To  relieve  distress  was  his 
delight.  Nor  did  his  left  hand  know  what  his  right  hand  performed. 

As  a  husband,  he  was  uniformly  attentive,  kind,  and  affectionate.  In  his 
family  government  he  was  strict  without  severity,  and  indulgent  without  weak- 
ness. In  the  hearts  of  his  domestics  his  authority  was  supported  by  kind- 
ness and  gentleness.  In  the  public  character  of  this  worthy  man  we  cannot 
but  notice  his  singular  beneficence  to  the  religious  society  with  which  he  was 
long  connected.  And  not  only  his  townsmen,  but  his  copatriots  in  the  Sen- 
ate, of  which  he  was  several  years  a  member,  recollect  with  what  fidelity, 
zeal,  and  firmness,  he  espoused  the  cause  of  order,  liberty  and  virtue. 

In  propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  savage  tribes,  and  the  destitute  in- 
habitants of  the  States,  the  Massachusetts  Missionary  Society  was  annually 
aided  by  his  distinguished  liberality.  With  concern  and  commiseration  he 
used  to  say, "  The  Missionary  object  is  the  greatest  in  the  world."  He  loved 
the  souls  of  men. 

The  Theological  Institution  in  Andover,  of  which  he  was  an  associate 
founder,  will  always  retain  a  lively  impression  of  his  pious  bounty.  The 
Founders,  Visitors,  Trustees,  Professors,  and  Students,  will  long  lament  the 
loss  they  sustained  by  his  early  removal,  and  gratefully  embalm  his  precious 
memory. 

Many  subscriptions,  designed  for  charitable  and  religious  objects,  proved 
successful  through  his  exemplary  aid.  From  intimate  acquaintance  with  him 
we  are  justified  in  saying,  that  he  viewed  himself  as  God's  steward,  and  that 
it  was  the  habitual  desire  of  his  heart  to  know  by  what  disposal  of  his  prop- 
erty he  might  most  effectually  glorify  his  heavenly  Benefactor.  In  a  word, 
relif/ion  was  the  glory  of  this  amiable  man.  This  he  felt  to  be  the  one  tJiinr/ 
needful  Being  asked,  by  a  friend,  whether  he  did  not  entertain  a  hope  that 
he  was  a  Christian,  in  a  solemn  manner  he  replied,  "  I  would  not  relinquish 
my  hope  that  I  am  a  child  of  God  for  thousands  of  worlds."  As  an  evidence 
that  this  was  the  language  of  his  heart,  we  find  his  journal  abounding  with 
pious  expressions,  and  with  devout  aspirations  after  communion  with  God. 
From  this  journal  it  appears  that  he  made  a  solemn  dedication  of  himself 
to  his  Maker,  which,  in  subsequent  years,  was  repeatedly  and  devoutly  re- 


DR.  WITHINGTON'S  ADDRESS.  25 

three  associate  founders  of  this  Seminary  was,  at  the  time 
of  their  donations,  a  professor  of  religion.     Mr.  Brown  was_ 
the  only  one  that  became  a  member  of  the  church.     This 
fact,  in  a  compound  way,  speaks  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and 
the  characters  of  the  men. 

Yet  they  have  left  us  their  noble  example.  They  have 
lighted  a  torch  which  may  pass  on  from  hand  to  hand,  in- 
creasing its  blaze.  They  are  dead  ;  but  is  their  spirit  dead  ? 
Are  there  no  more  such  benefactors  ?  I  tremble  for  the  pre- 
cious treasure,  in  this  house  now  over  our  heads,  lest  the 
want  of  some  fire-proof  building  should  consign  the  wisdom 
of  ages  to  an  incendiary  ruin.  Ye  Bartlets,  ye  Browns,  ye 
Norrises  —  where  is  your  opulence,  and  where  are  your  gen- 
erous hearts  ?  We  may  rejoice  in  our  Seminary ;  we  may 
even  be  proud  of  its  origin. 

No  weeping  orphan  saw  his  father's  stores 
Our  shrines  irradiate,  or  emblaze  the  floors ; 
No  silver  saints,  by  dying  misers  given, 
Here  bribed  the  rage  of  ill-requited  Heaven  : 
But  such  plain  roofs  as  Piety  could  raise, 
And  only  vocal  with  the  Maker's  praise. 


newed.  Towards  the  close  of  life,  he  manifested  a  modest,  but  comfortable 
assurance  of  being  a  subject  of  grace. 

From  such  a  man  we  might  expect  an  example  worthy  of  imitation.  His 
house  was  a  house  of  prayer,  in  which  the  morning  and  evening  sacrifice  as- 
cended to  the  mercy  seat,  through  the  glorious  Redeemer.  He  was  constant 
in  his  attendance  on  public  worship,  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  by  his  devout 
attention  to  the  solemnities  of  the  sanctuary,  he  gave  striking  evidence  that 
it  was  good  for  him  to  be  there. 

To  readers  unacquainted  with  the  self-diffidence  of  Mr.  Norris,  it  may  seem 
unaccountable  that  he  was  not  a  public  professor  of  religion.  He  often  con- 
templated connecting  himself  with  the  Church  ;  but  his  religious  scruples  and 
fears  prevented.  When  conversing  on  the  subject,  he  has  often  been  known 
to  tremble  and  bathe  his  face  in  tears.  It  is,  indeed,  difficult  to  account  for 

4 


26  CLASS      MEETINGS. 

Dr.  Dimmick,  the  immediate  successor  of  Dr.  Spring, 
and  present  pastor  of  his  church  in  Newburyport,  in 
connection  with  a  brief  additional  tribute  to  Mr.  Bart- 
let,  said  he  regarded  him  as  a  Christian  man,  though 
from  the  high  and  almost  unapproachable  standard  of 
piety  adopted  under  the  teaching  of  Dr.  Spring,  he 
never  ventured  on  a  religious  profession. 

Dr.  Henry  A.  Eowland,  of  Honesdale,  Pa.,  called  the 
attention  of  the  audience  to  the  changes  which  the  half 
century  had  wrought  in  some  of  the  social  usages  of  the 
times,  and  particularly  in  regard  to  the  use  of  alcoholic 
drinks,  illustrating  his  remarks  by  a  characteristic  an- 
ecdote. 

In  behalf  of  Samuel  Farrar,  Esq.,  for  a  long  period 
the  disinterested  and  zealous  Treasurer  of  the  Institu- 
tion, Eev.  Mr.  Oliphant,  of  Andover,  tendered  to  each 
of  the  Alumni  the  gift  of  a  copy  of  the  Contemplations 
and  Letters  of  Henry  Dorney — a  devotional  work, 
which  was  an  especial  favorite  with  Madam  Phillips, 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Seminary — and  a  vote  of 
thanks  to  Mr.  Farrar  for  the  gift  was  unanimously  passed. 

Rooms  had  been  provided  in  the  Seminary  buildings 
and  residences  adjacent  for  the  various  class-meetings 

it,  that  such  a  man  so  long  neglected  the  table  of  the  Lord,  without  suppos- 
ing that  he  entertained  an  erroneous  opinion  respecting  that  duty. 

In  this  he  was  not  different  from  many  other  good  men.  In  his  last  sick- 
ness he  was  humble,,  submissive  and  tranquil,  patiently  waiting  for  his  change. 
He  diftd  Dec.  22,  1808,  in  the  58th  year  of  his  age, 

"  Tlie  memory  of  the  righteous  is  blessed" 

Panoplist,  New  Series,  Vol.  I.  pp.  487, 488. 


DR.  ADAMS'S  ADDRESS.  27 

during  the  afternoon,  of  which  notice  was  now  given, 
and  these  general  exercises  were  here  suspended 
evening. 


With  the  glow  of  feeling  enkindled  in  the  afternoon, 
quickened  by  the  various  class-meetings/  and  irradiat- 
ing all  countenances,  the  Alumni  assembled  again  in  the 
chapel,  at  an  early  hour  after  tea  —  the  storm  prevent- 
ing a  more  colloquial  interview,  which  had  been  ex- 
pected in  the  tent,  and  in  anticipation  of  which,  Dr. 
William  Adams,  of  New  York,  son  of  a  former  Preceptor 
of  Phillips  Academy,  the  venerable  John  Adams,  LL.  D.? 
had  been  invited  to  preside.  On  taking  the  chair,  after 
prayer  had  been  offered  by  Dr.  J.  W.  McLane,  of  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  Dr.  Adams  said  : 

Fathers  and  Brethren :  —  I  owe  you  my  thanks  for  the 
honor  of  presiding  over  this  assemblage,  and  of  being  per- 
mitted to  welcome  you  to  this  social  gathering.  Though  I 
occupy  this  chair  through  no  choice  of  my  own,. it  may  be 
not  impertinent  should  I  say  a  word  in  exculpation  of  those 
who  have  assigned  to  me  the  position. 

1  Some  of  the  class  meetings  were  too  interesting  to  be  concluded  in  a 
single  hour,  and  were  adjourned  for  another  session  ;  and  then  again  for  still 
another. 

Of  the  graduates  from  one  class  twenty-four  were  present.  After  prayer 
at  each  of  their  meetings,  the  history  of  several  the  individuals  was  recited. 
Nearly  all  bore  the  marks  of  a  stern  and  exhausting  life-work.  One  had 
labored  in  seventeen  different  States  of  the  Union  ! 


28  DR.    ADAMS'S   ADDRESS. 

Sancho  Panza  was  wont  to  boast  that  all   his  ancestors 
were  Christians ;  by  which,  undoubtedly,  he  intended  that  he 
had  no  mixture  of  Moorish  blood.     In  this  whole  concourse, 
there  are  few,  if  any,  whose  personal  associations  synchronize 
more  completely  with  the  early  history  of  this  Seminary  than 
my  own.    My  conscious  life  began  with  the  earliest  classes  of 
our  succession.     To  use  the  New  England  dialect,  "  I  went 
to  meeting  "  when  a  child,  in  the  Old  South  Church,  and 
heard  Dr.  Justin  Edwards  utter  his  impressive  Amen  !  be- 
neath that  old  sounding-board ;  —  in  the  abstruse  parts  of  the 
discourse  occupying   myself  with  sage  reflections  upon  the 
probable  fate  of  that  incumbent  of  the  pulpit,  if  the  small 
rod  by  which  that  sounding-board  was  hung,  should  happen 
to   break.      I   remember   when   the   place    of  worship   was 
changed  from  the  parish  church  to  the  first  chapel,  —  the  cor- 
ner room  of  Phillips  Hall,  now  occupied  as  the  reading-room 
—  and  thence  to  the  Hall  of  Phillips  Academy,  on  the  stage  of 
which  many,  now  eminent  in  their  profession,  preached  their 
maiden  sermons.     I  knew,  as  children  know  men,  the  found- 
ers of  the  Seminary,  both  lay  and  clerical ;   Dr.  Spring,  Dr. 
Morse,  Mr.  Brown,  and  Mr.  Bartlet.     Well  did  I  know  and 
fear,  on  "  examination  days,"  Dr.  Eliphalet  Pearson,  whose 
figure  and  features  and  learning  always  reminded  me  of  Doc- 
tor Johnson.     I  remember  the  Professors,  as  a  boy  going  in 
and  out  of  their  houses,  when  Porter  was  distinguished,  as 
he  always  was,  by  the  easy  sway  and  dignity  of  his  manners  ; 
Woods  by  his  grave  and  cautious  wisdom ;  and  Stuart  by 
the  fresh  ardors  of  his  noble  enthusiasm.     I  knew  the  Mis- 
sionaries ;  read  very  devoutly  the  Panoplist,  the  Missionary 
Herald,  the  first  numbers  of  the  Boston  Recorder,  and  heard 
Dr.  Hawes's  first  sermon.     [Here  Dr.  Hawes,  sitting  in  the 
pulpit,  leaned  over,  and  asked  the  speaker  if  he  remembered 
the  subject;  to  which  Dr.  Adams  replied,  "  The  Influence  of 
the  Heart  on  the  Understanding."     I  remember  it  well,  be- 
cause, experiencing  a  difficulty  in  committing  to  memory 
the  Assembly's   Catechism,  which  I  never  felt  with  "  Viri 


DR.  ADAMS'S   ADDRESS.  29 

Romae,"  my  mind  was  then  set  to  work  out  the  solution  of 
the  problem.  "  Perhaps,  Sir,"  continued  Dr.  Adams,  turning^ 
to  Dr.  Hawes,  "  this  little  incident,  the  effect  of  your  sermon 
on  a  boy  twelve  years  of  age,  may  be  received  by  you  as  ons 
of  those  compensations  and  rewards  which  our  Master  drops 
in  the  path  of  a  faithful  servant."] 

Perhaps,  however,  in  this  season  of  reminiscences,  it  will 
be  safest  not  to  be  too  exact  —  most  certainly,  I  should  so 
wish  it  in  regard  to  myself — in  reporting  all  that  was  said 
and  done  when  we  were  ycung. 

It  is  evident,  from  the  space  covered  by  these  personal 
memories,  that  they  relate  to  two  distinct  periods,  boyhood 
and  manhood,  and  that  these  are  so  blended  as  to  create  a 
profusion  of  cross-lights.  In  the  one  case,  the  memories 
which  arise  are  not  distinctively  theological,  but  relate  to  the 
simple  sports  of  childhood,  the  squirrel-trap,  the  nut-tree,  the 
skating-pond,  and  the  "  huckleberry  "  pasture ;  and  these  are 
succeeded  by  the  Hebrew  Alphabet,  the  study  of  the  Book  of 
God,  the  first  sermon,  and  the  serious  prospects  of  life's  work. 
Speaking  as  an  Andover  boy,  I  am  bound  to  say  that  all  my 
earliest  associations  with  the  place  are  not  of  the  most  bril- 
liant quality.  When  returned  ministers  were  accustomed  to 
pray  for  all  who  dwelt  on  this  "  hill  of  Zion,"  the  thought 
sometimes  would  rise  that  Zion  was  not  the  most  attractive 
place  that  could  be  imagine^  To  make  a  clean  breast  of  it, 
I  confess  (through  faults  of  my  own),  some  of  my  first  as- 
sociations with  objects  which  my  heart  now  admires  and 
honors,  were  somewhat  sombre  and  repellent.  To  my  later 
studies  and  sympathies,  the  Apostle  Paul  appears  the  very 
paragon  of  all  human  accomplishments  ;  bat  for  many  years 
the  Great  Apostle  was  presented  to  my  imagination  with  a 
slow  gait,  in  a  long  surtout,  and  a  certain  kind  of  handker- 
chief tied  high  over  the  mouth,  —  the  invariable  sign,  at  one 
time,  by  which  a  member  and  a  Professor  of  the  "  Divinity 
College  "  were  sure  to  be  recognized. 

A  return  to  the  scenes  of  early  life  is  always  accompanied 


30  DR.    AD  AM  g'S     ADDRESS. 

by  a  certain  degree  of  sadness, — though  that  sadness  may 
not  be  unpleasing.  One  of  our  American  artists  has  given 
us  a  capital  picture,  representing  an  old  man  looking  at  the 
portrait  of  himself,  taken  when  he  was  a  boy,  as  suggested 
by  those  lines  of  Mr.  Coleridge  : 

When  I  was  young  ! 
When  I  was  young  ?   Ah,  woful  when  ! 
Ah  for  the  change  'twixt  now  and  then  ! 

Ere  I  was  old ! 

Ere  I  was  old  ?     Ah,  woful  Ere  ! 
Which  tells  me,  Youth 's  no  longer  here  I 

0  Youth !  for  years  so  many  and  sweet 
'T  is  known,  that  thou  and  I  were  one ; 

1  '11  think  it  but  a  fond  conceit  — 

It  cannot  be  th&t  thou  art  gone  ! 

Without  being  querulous,  like  the  old  Count  in  Gil  Bias, 
who  was  always  complaining  that  the  peaches  were  not  as 
large  as  in  his  childhood,  we  are  all  conscious  of  change  when 
revisiting  the  resort  of  earlier  years.  The  Shawsheen  does 
not  appear  to  us  quite  so  much  like  the  Ganges  as  it  did 
when,  with  brave  sinews,  we  dared  to  swim  across  it  at  "  the 
Birch  ; "  and  the  turnpike  road  from  "  the  Hill"  to  the  village 
may  not  seem  quite  so  interminable  as  when  to  a  younger 
imagination,  it  was  the  very  counterpart  of  that  long,  straight 
path  which  stretched  away  and  away  before  the  weary  pil- 
grim of  Bunyan.  But  one  thing,  I  am  sure,  is  here  un- 
changed and  unsurpassed,  —  the  setting  .of  the  Summer  and 
the  Autumn  Sun  behind  yonder  mountains.  I  have  looked 
upon  the  far-famed  sunsets  of  Italy,  and  my  sober  conviction 
is,  that  never  was  there  a  display  of  the  beauties  and  glories 
of  the  firmament  more  magnificent  than  that  which  is  often 
furnished,  from  this  very  spot,  to  those  who  are  here  in  train- 
ing for  the  Christian  ministry  ;  as  if  to  them,  like  the  Apostle 
at  Patmos,  a  door  were  opened  into  heaven.  Even  now,  af- 
ter years  of  absence,  I  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  impression, 
deepened  by  so  many  hours  of  twilight  musings,  that  the 


DR.  ADAMS'S   ADDRESS.  31 

transition  from  this  favored  place  to  the  mansions  of  the 
blessed  is  specially  easy  and  natural,  that  the  gates  of  pearl_ 
and  the  stones  of  sapphire  lie  just  beyond  those  gorgeous 
clouds  in  the  western  sky,  which  forever  and  ever  are  taking 
and  giving  glory  in  the  light  of  the  setting  sun. 

Unlike  our  usual  college  gatherings,  where  men  of  various 
pursuits  and  professions  are  brought  together,  the  present  as- 
semblage is  composed  of  one  class.  That  which,  at  first, 
might  appear  to  be  an  infelicity,  has  many  advantages.  Who 
can  understand  all  the  pleasures  and  trials  of  a  profession  so 
well  as  those  who  themselves  have  participated  therein?  None 
of  us  have  forgotton  the  trials  of  feeling  through  which  we 
passed  at  the  threshold  of  our  profession.  Comparatively 
easy  was  it,  when  weighing  in  college  the  several  avocations 
presented  in  the  first  ode  of  Horace,  to  choose  the 

Doctarum  hederae  praemia  frontium, 

in  distinction  from  agriculture  and  war ;  but  that  was  a  crisis 
of  intense  interest  and  trial,  when,  our  profession  chosen,  we 
stood  lingering  among  these  quiet  shades,  the  world  before 
us,  and  knowing  not  what  should  befall  us. 

Like  those  whom  our  Lord  sent  forth  two  and  two,  to 
preach  his  word,  we  have  now  come  back  to  report  to  Him 
and  to  one  another  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  done. 
I  will  not  anticipate  the  several  topics  which  will  be  presented 
by  others  in  the  course  of  the  week.  I  will  not  even  suggest 
the  many  changes  which  have  been  wrought  in  the  world  dur- 
ing the  last  fifty  years,  through  the  direct  agency  of  this  In- 
stitution. I  will  not  pause  here  to  congratulate  the  noble 
men  who,  from  their  seats  on  high,  are  permitted  to  look 
down  upon  the  results  of  their  sagacity  and  piety,  as  1he 
founders  of  this  Seminary.  My  service  will  be  rendered 
when,  in  the  name  of  those  who,  in  various  offices  and  rela- 
tions, represent  this  Institution,  I  welcome  you  to  this  pleas- 
ant gathering.  Here  are  members  of  the  earliest  classes, 


-32  DR.  ADAMS'S  ADDRESS. 

with  heads  silvered  with  the  honors  of  time.  We  welcome 
them  to  the  scenes  where  they  studied  and  prayed  in  the  days 
of  their  youth.  Some  among  the  first  of  our  missionaries 
are  here,  pioneers  in  a  noble  work,  bronzed  by  Indian  suns, 
who,  in  the  very  haunts  where  they  formed  their  great  pur- 
poses, are  welcomed  now  most  cordially  to  well-merited 
honors  and  repose.  We  welcome  you  who  for  years  have 
been  toiling  on,  in  your  Master's  work,  in  every  part  of  our 
native  land,  unapplauded,  but  faithful,  and  yet  to  be  rewarded 
before  God  and  the  angels.  We  welcome  all  to  the  grateful 
memories  of  our  venerated  instructors,  whose  familiar  forms 
walk  among  us  to-day  with  a  blessing;  —  to  the  memories  of 
good  men  who  once  were  our  associates,  Christian  ministers, 
Christian  scholars,  who,  life's  noble  work  all  accomplished, 
have  gone  to  their  rest ;  and  to  that  fellowship  which  unites 
us  to  so  many  honored  names  among  the  living,  who  have 
widened  the  sphere  of  Christian  sympathies.  Differences  of 
opinion,  asperities  of  judgment,  perhaps  the  odium  theolo- 
gicum,  may  have  separated  some,  in  the  stern  collisions  of 
duty.  We  welcome  all  to  the  broad  basis  of  that  theological 
system  in  which  we  were  here  educated,  whose  few  great 
principles  unite  so  many  shades  of  opinion  ;  —  to  a  commu- 
nion in  which  we  may  merge  all  subordinate  differences 
through  an  attachment  to  one  faith  and  service.  From  scenes 
of  toil,  and  care,  and  weariness,  have  you  come  ;  we  welcome 
you  to  a  renewal  of  earlier  intimacies,  to  a  recollection  of  all 
the  way  in  which  the  Lord  hath  brought  us  ;  and  to  new  ex- 
pressions of  gratitude  for  the  unspeakable  privilege  of  being 
the  ministers  of  Christ,  and  to  a  joyful  remembrance  of  all 
which  we  have  been  permitted  to  do  in  the  service  of  our 
Master.  How  many  have  you  instructed,  how  many  have 
you  comforted,  how  many  have  you  already  garnered  in  the 
grave ! 

In  the  name  of  all  friendship,  and  letters,  and  religion,  we 
greet  you  with  Christian  salutations.  Beneath  the  boughs 
of  these  graceful  elms,  we  planted  our  purposes  and  ejac- 


DR.  CHICKERING'S   ADDRESS.  33 

luated  our  prayers.  To  the  same  tranquil  shades  are  we 
brought  again,  that,  in  the  name  of  our  divine  Lord,  we  may 
be  stimulated  to  better  purposes  for  the  future ;  that  the  sad- 
ness which  steals  over  us  as  we  recall  the  past,  may  be  our 
aid  in  forming  resolves  for  time  to  come  ;  so  that  this  gath- 
ering of  Christian  ministers  may  lead  to  greater  results  in  the 
half  century  to  ensue,  when  all  now  active  and  earnest  shall 
be  marked  in  our  catalogues  with  those  stars  which  symbolize 
a  promised  promotion,  above  the  brightness  of  the  firmament. 

After  these  salutations,  Dr.  John  W.  Chickering,  of 
Portland,  Me.,  was  called  upon  to  speak,  of  u  the  de- 
ceased Alumni,"  and  made  the  following 


ADDRESS. 

OUR  DEAD  !  —  What  a  company  they  form  !  Peaceful  in 
death,  and  now,  we  trust,  blessed  in  Heaven,  as  they  were 
useful  in  their  lives  on  earth. 

Thus  we  may  safely  say,  concerning  them  as  a  body,  what- 
ever sad  exceptions,  suspected  or  unsuspected,  there  may  or 
may  not  have  been,  among  so  many.  If  Christ's  apostolic 
family  of  twelve  included  one  traitor,  dare  we  hope  that 
every  one  of  the  417  stellated  names  on  our  catalogue  is 
written  in  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life  ?  However  this  may  be, 
very  few,  either  of  the  living  or  of  the  dead,  have  made  open 
"  shipwreck  concerning  faith  and  a  good  conscience."  And 
it  is  a  satisfaction  to  reflect,  as  we  may  safely  do,  that  no 
company  of  deceased  Alumni,  from  any  Institution,  ever  left 
more  pure  and  useful  lives  behind  them,  as  evidences  of  faith 
and  tokens  of  salvation. 

May  our  names,  when  marked  by  the  lethal  star,  form  no 
exceptions.  May  we  then  be  shining  as  stars  in  the  firma- 
ment above,  with  all  those  who  have  turned  many  to  right- 
eousness. 

5 


34  DR.  CHICKERING'S   ADDRESS. 

Obviously,  this  great  company  of  our  brethren  who,  like  the 
disciple  that  did  outrun  Peter,  have  arrived  first,  not  indeed 
at  the  sepulchre,  but  at  the  throne  of  our  risen  Lord,  must 
be  dealt  with  on  this  occasion,  not  in  detail,  to  any  great  ex- 
tent, but  by  some  mode  of  classification. 

Perhaps  here  and  there  a  representative  man  may  be  se- 
lected, as  an  illustration  and  remembrancer  of  his  brethren 
of  a  particular  class,  as  missionaries,  authors,  laborers  long 
spared,  and  promising  men  early  cut  off  by  an  inscrutable 
Providence. 

But  many  of  the  most  noticeable  are  already  familiar  in 
name  and  history,  through  the  medium  of  contemporary 
journals,  extended  biographies,  or  the  indefatigable  labors  of 
the  distinguished  Illustrator  of  the  American  Pulpit,  who  has 
embalmed  in  his  vast  depository  the  memory  of  more  than 
forty  of  our  departed  brethren. 

Many  there  are,  indeed,  of  whom  we  have  no  such  trace  ; 
many,  doubtless,  though  unknown  to  fame,  yet  not  less  use- 
ful while  living,  and  not  less  blessed  now  among  the  shining 
ones,  than  those  who  have  been  objects  of  a  wider  regard,  and 
subjects  of  well  merited  eulogy. 

But  they  are  beyond  the  reach  of  any  reasonable  amount 
of  exploration,  among  village  chronicles  and  the  memories  of 
personal  friends.  And  so,  with  brief  allusions  to  a  few  indi- 
viduals, we  must  be  content  to  look  on  "  our  dead  "  in  groups, 
not  even  attempting  those  specific  lessons  of  comfort  and  in- 
struction which  a  study  of  their  individual  lives  and  labors 
and  dying  scenes  might  furnish. 

We  are  naturally  struck  with  the  glimpse  of  relative  mor- 
tality among  the  earlier  and  later  classes,  afforded  by  one  of 
the  items  in  the  carefully  prepared  Triennial  Catalogue. 

Of  352  connected  with  the  Seminary  during  the  fifth  de- 
cade, only  17  are  known  to  have  died,  in  the  proportion  of  1 
to  21  nearly. 

From  the  440  of  the  preceding  ten  years,  63  have  already 
been  called  away,  or  1  in  7. 


DR.  CHICKERING'S   ADDRESS.  35 

Third  decade  ;  95  have  died  out  of  534r — about  1  in  5-J-. 

The  second ;  whole  number  430,  of  whom  136,  about  one- — 
third,  have  been  numbered  among  the  dead. 

While  of  the  smaller  number  of  names,  196,  found  on  the 
records  of  the  first  period  of  ten  years,  102,  more  than  one- 
half,  have  already  been  stricken  from  the  roll  of  living  men 
on  earth,  and  placed  upon  the  catalogue  of  the  dead. 

A  careful  analysis  of  the  mortality  of  each  year  would  re- 
mind us  who  belong  to  the  first  half  of  the  half  century's 
history,  being  as  old  as  the  Seminary,  or  older,  that  our  num- 
bers, already  thinned  in  the  progress  of  time,  are  dimin- 
ishing more  and  more  rapidly,  year  by  year.  May  the  older 
and  the  younger  be  more  and  more  diligent  in  working  while 
the  day  lasts. 

Not  one  class  is  yet  all  gone.  But  the  stars  will  multiply, 
especially  on  the  earlier  pages,  and  soon  entire  groups  of 
names  will  have  become  obsolete  ;  monumental  inscriptions, 
remembrancers  of  times  and  persons,  that  were  and  are  not. 
Among  the  deceased  of  the  earlier  students,  two  were  cut 
down  while  in  the  Seminary,  out  of  the  first  class  —  a  class 
consisting  of  only  four  members.  How  affecting  must  that 
double  Providence  have  been !  One-half  the  class  called 
away  within  less  than  two  months !  Well  do  some  of  us  re- 
member the  grave-stone  of  Lewis  le  Conte  Congar,  in  our 
little  cemetery,  when  it  contained  few  such  memorials. 

But  not  again  for  eight  years  do  we  find  such  a  record. 

Who  can  tell  what  hopes  of  friends  were  extinguished, 
what  prospects  of  usefulness  cut  off,  when  in  successive 
years  Barker,  Perry,  Day,  Chipman,  Mills,  Baker,  Hunting- 
ton,  McLellan,"  Marsh,  Brooks,  Rosseter,  Mellen,  Roel,  and 
many  others,  were  called  to  go  up  higher  before  they  had 
even  entered  upon  labors  to  which  their  hearts  were  devoted  ? 
Some  of  us  well  remember  the  modest  and  devout  Freeman, 
who,  in  1827,  shared  his  classmates'  kind  attentions  and  was 
taken  to  his  Saviour's  arms.  Who  can  tell  of  how  much 
good  he  and  others  among  the  early  dead  were  the  occasion, 


36  DR.    CHICK  ERIN  G'S    ADDRESS. 

through  the  effect  produced  upon  the  hearts  of  a  company 
of  Christian  brethren  and  fellow-students  by  such  scenes  ? 
They  may  have  modified  many  entire  ministries. 

A  still  deeper  and  more  widespread  interest  attaches  to 
another  class  of  our  dead  —  those  who  lived  to  graduate, 
and  to  enter  upon  inviting  fields  of  labor,  from  which,  and 
from  the  bleeding  hearts,  relying  upon  them  as  spiritual 
guides,  they  were  torn  by  death's  relentless  hand,  —  let  us 
rather  say,  removed  by  Him  who  doeth  all  things  well.  How 
many  hearts,  even  now,  beat  quicker  at  the  mention  of  Ches- 
ter Isham,  Sylvester  Larned,  Samuel  H.  Stearns,  Joseph  W. 
Barr,  William  B.  Homer,  Luke  C.  Baker,  Jarvis  Gregg, 
Ashley  Samson,  and  others,  who,  when  just  putting  on  the 
harness  for  different  parts  of  the  great  warfare  against  sin 
and  Satan,  were  permitted  to  lay  it  aside  —  called  to  their 
rest  without  long  weariness  preceding. 

To  these  must  be  added  the  names  of  Cutler  and  Hitch- 
cock, both  of  a  later  class,  1850,  settled  in  New  England,  and 
Dimon  and  Woods,  of  the  class  of  1853,  taken  early  from 
western  fields  of  labor. 

There  is  already  on  our  catalogue  a  brief  list  of  veterans  in 
this  holy  war,  some  of  whom  have  ceased  from  their  works,  leav- 
ing behind  them  the  odor  of  sanctity,  made  venerable  by  age. 

Of  the  second  class,  1810,  five  have  died  at  ages  approach- 
ing threescore  and  ten,  after  ministrations  generally  exceed- 
ing forty  years.  These  were  Cone,  Crane,  Olds,  Sperry,  and 
Judson.  The  last  life  the  shortest  of  the  five  by  the  cal- 
endar; but  who  shall  compute  its  length  from  the  elements 
of  labor,  suffering,  and  the  answering  of  life's  great  end ! 

Of  the  next  class,  1811,  the  same  number  have  died,  at 
ages  between  sixty  and  seventy  years.  Chapin,  J.  F.  Clark, 
Daniel  A.  Clark,  Rich,  and  Peet,  —  the  last  two  at  the  age 
of  seventy-one. 

Following  the  classes  down,  we  find  the  number  of  vet- 
erans both  among  the  living  and  the  departed,  becoming,  of 
course,  smaller.  But  death  found  a  shining  mark  from  the 


DR.  CHICKERING'S   ADDRESS.  37 

next  class.     A  tall,  a  wise,  a  reverend  head  was  laid  low, 
when  Justin  Edwards  found  a  distant  death-bed.     The  names_ 
of  Nash,  Schermerhorn,  Booth,  and  Pomeroy,  are  marked  as 
among  the  aged,  the  last  having  approached,  it  is  thought, 
more  nearly  to  fourscore  years,  than  any  other  alumnus. 

The  class  of  1814  has  many  brilliant  names  among  the 
early  and  the  later  dead.  Colton,  Gallaudet,  Poor,  Steele, 
and  Wright !  Names  suggestive  of  learning  and  philan- 
thropy, directed  by  the  love  of  Christ  and  of  souls.  These 
all  have  reared  monuments  more  enduring  than  that  on  which 
the  Sons  of  Silence  love  to  read  the  name  of  their  benefactor, 
which  in  the  language  of  signs  they  call  the  world  to  see  and 
admire  ;  pointing,  as  one  of  them  has  lately  done,  to  him  who, 
like  Columbus,  had  found  a  new  world  for  those  who  had  lost 
one  of  the  senses. 

The  names  of  Curtis  and  Lovell  next  appear,  unknown 
to  fame ;  —  the  last  not  unknown  to  one  who  feels  it  due  to 
the  honored  successor  of  an  honored  sire  to  testify  to  the 
practical  wisdom,  the  consistent  piety,  and  the  clerical  cour- 
tesy with  which  he  filled  that  difficult  office  —  the  care  of  a 
church  of  which  its  former  pastor  remained  a  feeble  member. 

The  list  of  those  who  have  departed,  at  an  age  approach- 
ing threescore  and  ten,  is  rapidly  exhausted  as  we  trace  the 
classes  down. 

Benedict,  Blodgett,  Dwight  (who  died  at  sixty-one,  having 
received  the  benediction  of  Him  who  accepts  the  visiting  of 
the  prisoner  as  done  unto  Himself),  Mitchell,  Kendrick,  Worth- 
ington  Smith,  Phillips  Payson,  and  Hurd,  are  among  the 
latest  names  on  this  list,  which  is  appropriately  closed  with 
one  dear  to  many  and  respectfully  remembered  by  more  — 
Asa  Cummings,  of  the  class  of  1820.  One  who,  as  his  pastor, 
had  so  many  reasons  for  esteeming  and  loving  him,  may 
utter  a  word  of  eulogy  upon  this  veteran  of  the  religious 
press,  whose  body,  worn  with  the  infirmities  of  age  and  many 
cares  and  labors,  sleeps  with  those  of  the  lamented  Mills. 
Fisher,  Cowles,  and  perhaps  others  of  our  fraternal  band, 


38  DR.   CHICKE RING'S   ADDRESS. 

"  In  ocean  caves,  beneath  the  waves." 

He  served  God  in  his  generation,  as  a  pioneer  and  a  pilot 
in  religious  journalism  ;  one  whose  leading,  if  not  swift,  was 
sure,  and  whose  mantle  of  caution  and  of  kindness  may  well 
be  desired  as  a  perpetual  investiture  for  the  shoulders  of  his 
successors. 

Having  thus  passed  hastily  through  the  various  chrono- 
logical divisions  of  our  multitudinous  theme,  our  thoughts 
naturally  arrange  themselves  with  reference  to  the  several 
branches  of  labor  which  fell  to  the  lot  of  our  departed 
brethren. 

And  as  we  have  just  glanced  at  one  who  was  conspicuous 
in  the  department  of  periodical  literature,  shall  we  select  as 
the  first  item  in  our  official  classification,  Editorial  and  other 
authorship.  This,  if  not  as  obvious,  may  be  as  real  a  carry- 
ing out  of  the  design  of  the  founders,  and  the  counsels  of  the 
instructors  of  the  Seminary,  as  any  other  species  of  labor. 

Who  can  estimate  the  influence  of  Hall  and  Judson,  of 
Newell,  Cummings,  Clark,  Weeks,  the  Edwardses,  Eli  Smith, 
Colton,  Marsh,  Wilcox,  Taylor,  Phelps,  Dickinson,  and  others, 
who,  as  editors  or  authors,  in  Christian  biography,  theology, 
science,  reform,  or  even  in  the  higher  departments  of  travels 
and  poetry,  by  translation,  or  in  foreign  tongues,  made  read- 
ing for  millions  —  reading  more  or  less  useful  in  itself,  and 
taking  the  place,  with  many  readers,  of  other  and  pernicious 
pages  ? 

A  large  number  of  our  dead  lived  for  a  time  in  academic 
halls,  exerting  the  influence  of  learning,  in  its  various  depart- 
ments, theological,  classical,  or  scientific,  upon  great  numbers 
of  young  minds. 

First  on  this  list  comes  the  name  of  Matthew  R.  Button, 
Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy  in  Yale 
College.  Solomon  M.  Allen,  of  Middiebury  College,  and 
Calvin  Colton,  of  Trinity  College,  are  remembered  with  in- 
terest by  different  circles  of  friends,  as  having  been  useful,  in 


DR.  CHICKERING'S  ADDRESS.  39 

different  spheres,  and  during  periods  widely  varying  in  length. 
Though  belonging  to  the  same  class,  one  died  forty  years  af-_ 
ter  the  other. 

To  the  same  list  belongs  the  name  of  Alexander  M.  Fisher, 
whose  sad  and  early  death  by  shipwreck  has  surrounded  his 
memory  with  special  interest  to  many  who  might  not  other- 
wise have  known  his  excellences. 

He  was  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy 
in  Yale  College,  and  died  at  the  age  of  twenty -eight.  This 
was  a  fruitful  class  in  respect  to  Professors  and  Missionaries, 
many  of  whom  are  no  more  among  the  living. 

We  find  here  (class  of  1814),  the  name  of  Gallaudet,  al- 
ready mentioned  ;  than  whose  office  no  nominal  professorship 
could  be  more  honorable  or  useful. 

Then  follow,  1815,  the  name  of  Ebenezer  Kellogg,  of  Wil- 
liams College ;  1817,  Elihu  W.  Baldwin,  President  of  Wa- 
bash  College,  cut  off  from  bright  prospects  of  continued  use- 
fulness at  the  West ;  and  in  the  same  class,  John  L.  Parkhurst, 
long  a  useful  Instructor  at  the  East ;  1818,  Reuel  Keith, 
Professor  in  William  and  Mary  College,  and  afterwards  in 
the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Vir- 
ginia ;  one  of  the  lights  of  that  portion  of  Zion,  and  a  faith- 
ful servant  of  that  branch  of  Christ's  church.  In  the  same 
class  was  Elisha  Mitchell  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina, 
who  recently  met  a  sad  and  sudden  death  on  the  mountains 
in  pursuit  of  his  favorite  science ;  his  body  having  a  moun- 
tain called  by  his  name, —  at  once  a  sepulchre  and  a  monu- 
ment. 1819,  Jasper  Adams,  whom  some  of  us  recollect  as 
commencing,  in  our  own  venerable  Phillips  Academy,  that 
vocation  of  teaching  which  he  afterwards  followed  as  Pro- 
fessor in  Brown  University,  President  of  Charleston  College, 
and  Chaplain  and  Instructor  at  West  Point.  In  the  same 
class  was  President  Worthington  Smith,  of  the  University  of 
Vermont. 

In  the  class  of  1820  was  Charles  B.  Storrs,  President  of 
Western  Reserve  College,  in  whose  early  decease  were 


40  DR.  CHICKERING'S   ADDRESS. 

quenched  many  bright  hopes  for  western  education.  Also, 
Samuel  P.  Newman,  of  an  honored  family  here,  filling  suc- 
cessively two  professorships  in  Bowdoin  College.  Connected 
for  a  time  with  the  class  of  1821,  was  Stephen  Taylor,  who 
died  in  1852,  having,  among  other  positions,  filled  a  profes- 
sorship in  the  Presbyterian  Theological  Seminary  of  Virginia. 
Among  his  latest  recorded  words  were  these  :  "  O,  my  breth- 
ren !  I  am  suffering  almost  beyond  the  endurance  of  nature  ; 
but,  thanks  be  to  God,  His  love  superabounds.  Oh  the  pre- 
cious grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ!  Preach  Christ,  my 
brethren,  preach  Christ ! " 

Of  the  class  of  1822,  James  Marsh,  successively  Professor 
at  Hampden  Sydney  College,  and  President  of  the  University 
of  Vermont,  in  which  Institution  he  was  afterward  Professor 
of  Moral  and  Intellectual  Philosophy.  He  left  the  impress  of 
his  philosophical  mind  on  many  others,  both  by  his  presence, 
influence,  and  the  works  of  which  he  was  the  author,  editor, 
or  translator.  Whatever  difference  of  opinion  there  might  be 
as  to  his  philosophy,  his  piety  was  known  and  read  of  all  who 
knew  him.  "Even  in  his  countenance,"  said  Washington 
Allston,  "  he  carried  a  character  not  to  be  mistaken,  —  legibly 
written, l  the  peace  of  God.'  " 

Of  the  class  of  1823,  was  Nathan  W.  Fiske,  afterwards 
Professor  in  Amherst  College, —  a  man  of  order  and  precis- 
ion in  his  habits,  fervent  piety,  scientific  taste  and  profi- 
ciency, deep  sorrows,  and  power  in  pleading  with  young  men 
to  be  reconciled  to  God,  through  that  Saviour,  near  whose 
sepulchre  his  own  dust  lies,  awaiting  the  summons  to  follow 
his  already  risen  Lord  in  the  resurrection. 

In  the  class  of  1824,  sitting  side  by  side,  were  Joseph  I. 
Foot  and  Stephen  Foster,  and  near  them  Orramel  S.  Hinck- 
ley.  These  three  were  afterwards  Presidents  of  Colleges  in 
Tennessee  ;  and  they  all  died  within  the  space  of  five  years, 
President  Foot  by  a  sudden  casualty.  How  little  could  they, 
or  their  classmates,  have  imagined  their  future !  Within  the 
same  five  years  died  Edward  Turner,  for  a  time  belonging  to 


DR.  CHICKERING'S  ADDRESS.  41 

the  same  class ;  a  man  whose  retiring  temperament  fitted  him 
less  for  the  pulpit  than  for  the  professor's  chair,  which  he  so_ 
modestly  and  yet  efficiently  filled,  at  Middlebury  College. 

In  the  class  of  1825,  we  find  the  starred  name  of  Walter 
Colton,  less  known  as  Professor  in  a  Military  Academy  than 
as  Navy  Chaplain  and  author.  At  a  later  date  stands  re- 
corded the  name  of  Solomon  Maxwell,  a  useful  laborer  in  the 
cause  of  Education,  who  died  young.  Later  still,  Bela  B. 
Edwards,  who  is  commemorated  in  another  connection  at 
this  Anniversary,  and  who  is  the  only  deceased  Professor, 
also  an  Alumnus  of  this  Seminary.  May  all  his  successors  in 
this  double  relation  leave  as  fragrant  memories. 

David  Peabody,  for  a  short  time  Professor  of  Rhetoric  at 
Dartmouth  College,  left  the  many  who  knew  him  personally 
to  mourn,  and  a  wider  circle  to  wonder,  at  the  mystery  of  so 
early  a  termination  of  his  useful  life,  and  of  new  labors  well 
begun. 

Samuel  A.  Fay  and  James  D.  Lewis,  of  the  class  of  1832, 
were  removed,  the  one  very  early,  and  the  other  later,  from 
fields  of  usefulness  among  the  young. 

Professor  Stephen  Chase,  of  Dartmouth  College,  was  of 
the  class  of  1834,  and  Jarvis  Gregg,  Professor  in  Western 
Reserve  College,  of  the  next  class,  1835. 

Joseph  Sherman,  President  of  Jackson  College,  Tennessee, 
was  suddenly  called  away  by  a  frightful  casualty  while  travel- 
ling, and  thus  the  bright  hopes  of  many  were  sadly  extin- 
guished. 

Aurelian  H.  Post,  of  the  same  class,  was  very  early  called 
from  a  humbler  Western  post  of  instruction. 

Prof.  Charles  B.  Adams,  of  Middlebury  and  Amherst  Col- 
leges successively,  died  young,  but  with  a  character  matured, 
and  a  name  well  known  as  au  enthusiastic  and  Christian  ex- 
plorer of  the  great  field  of  Natural  Science. 

James  Meacham,  of  the  same  class,  for  a  time  Professor  in 
Middlebury  College,  entered  before  his  death  upon  the  arena 
of  political  life,  and  stood  in  the  halls  of  Congress  as  a  pro- 

6 


42  DR.  c BICKERING'S  ADDRESS. 

moter  of  science,  and  an  advocate  of  what  he  deemed  right- 
eous legislation.  Samuel  P.  Abbott,  of  the  class  of  1840, 
was  useful  as  a  teacher,  but  died  young.  John  Humphrey, 
of  the  class  of  1841,  only  lived  long  enough  to  have  his  name 
enrolled  in  the  list  of  College  Professors,  leaving  many  of  his 
warm  friends  to  conjecture  how  brightly  those  qualities  which 
so  endeared  him  as  a  pastor  would  have  shone  in  his  course 
as  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy,  and  Chaplain  at  Hamilton 
College. 

How  in  accordance  with  his  habitual  humility,  gentleness, 
and  cheerfulness,  was  his  dying  testimony  :  "  I  have  no  rap- 
tures ;  I  have  peace ;  I  trust  I  shall  enter  heaven." 

William  A.  Peabody  was  another  burning  and  shining 
light,  in  which  only  for  a  season  many  rejoiced.  His  transfer 
from  the  pastorate  to  a  professorship  at  Amherst,  was  soon 
followed  by  a  call  to  enter  into  rest. 

The  missionary  necrology  of  our  Seminary,  if  fully  written, 
would  be  already  a  rich  treasury  of  the  records  of  faith  and 
love  and  martyr  zeal.  Of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
who  have  been  in  the  foreign  field,  not  far  from  fifty  have 
already  laid  their  armor  down,  and  received,  we  trust,  cor- 
onation as  faithful  warriors  in  the  advance-guard  of  the 
sacramental  host. 

The  number  of  Home  Missionaries,  living  or  dead,  it  is  not 
so  easy  to  reckon.  Of  the  more  than  two  thousand  who  have 
been  connected  with  the  Seminary,  some  two  hundred  and 
fifty  are  reported  in  the  Catalogue  as  having  been  ministers 
or  missionaries  west  of  the  State  of  New  York.  Much  of 
that  field  has  not  of  late  years  been  missionary  ground; 
while  many  laborers  at  the  East  have  had  the  hardships,  with- 
out the  name,  of  missionaries.  Some  there  are,  however,  of 
those  western  pioneers,  already  entered  into  rest,  whose 
names  stand  prominent,  by  common  consent,  among  the 
heroic  servants  of  the  Redeemer. 

Salmon  Giddings  was  such  an  one,  long  since  numbered 
with  the  dead,  and  that  before  the  noon  of  life  ;  but  not  until 


DR.  CHICKERING'S   ADDRESS.  43 

he  had  left  the  impress  of  his  fervid  zeal  and  practical  wisdom 
upon  a  community  then  in  its  infancy,  when  St.  Louis  was  a— 
missionary  outpost. 

Fifield  Holt,  of  a  still  earlier  class,  and  who  entered  into 
rest  a  little  later  than  Giddings,  and  at  the  same  age,  was  a 
faithful  laborer  at  the  East  —  laying  the  foundations  in  the 
almost  wilderness  of  what  are  now  flourishing  churches  in 
populous  villages  on  the  upper  Kennebec. 

John  B.  Warren  died  in  the  extreme  South ;  and  Jonathan 
Bigelow  devoted  his  latest  energies  to  an  important  central 
field  in  Ohio,  on  what  was  missionary  ground  when  he  began 
his  ministry  in  New  England. 

Elipha  White,  of  St.  John's  Island,  South  Carolina,  had  a 
position  of  great  usefulness  on  the  Southern  Atlantic  coast. 

Time  would  fail  to  speak  of  Bradstreet,  Brainerd,  Hurd, 
Child,  Marston,  Eastman,  Hardy,  and  many  more,  valiant  for 
the  truth,  preaching  Christ  where  He  had  not  been  named,  or 
entering  into  the  arduous  labors  which  earlier  home  mission- 
aries had  commenced. 

One  word  only  can  be  given  to  our  classmate  (brethren  of 
1829),  Artemas  Bullard,  of  St.  Louis,  who  laid  many  foun- 
dations in  Missouri,  and  in  other  portions  of  what  was  once 
the  Far  West,  and  whom  our  Master  called  home  with  a  ter- 
rific voice  as  it  sounded  to  us,  but  of  which  he  only  knew 
from  its  result  when  rest  and  heavenly  songs  followed  the 
crash  of  the  falling  train. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  our  departed  Foreign  Mission- 
aries ?  They  have  found  that  Heaven  is  as  near  to  India,  or 
Africa,  or  the  Mediterranean  shores,  or  the  Pacific  Islands,  as 
to  their  early  homes  and  the  graves  of  their  kindred.  Some 
of  their  names  are  already  familiar  as  household  words.  Who 
needs  to  be  told  who  Gordon  Hall  was  ?  or  Judson,  or  New- 
ell, or  Mills,  or  Richards,  or  Poor? — of  whom  it  was  said  by 
a  native,  that  to  drink  of  the  water  in  which  he  had  washed 
his  feet,  would  be  enough  to  merit  Paradise.  Who  is  igno- 
rant of  Fisk  and  Parsons  ?  —  their  names  associated  in  their 


44  DR.  CHI CK BRING' s   ADDRESS. 

biography,  as  they  were  united  in  labor,  and  even  in  death, 
though  at  different  times,  yet  by  similar  malignant  disease ; 
malignant,  though  sent  by  a  benignant  Providence  to  take 
them  home  when  their  work  was  done. 

Daniel  Temple,  Eli  Smith,  John  Taylor  Jones,  and  Eph- 
raim  Spaulding,  in  different  branches  of  Christ's  aggressive 
army,  were  all  valiant  soldiers  of  the  cross,  with  voice  or  pen, 
in  Europe,  or  Asia,  or  the  Islands  of  the  Sea,  serving  one 
Master,  and  receiving  each  a  welcome  from  his  gracious  lips, 
though  laboring  in  connection  with  different  branches  of  his 
church. 

Munson  and  Lyman !  what  a  partnership  in  labor  and  in 
suffering  was  theirs,  from  the  time  when  they  sat  together 
in  the  class-room,  and  prayed  together  to  be  guided  to  a  mis- 
sionary field,  till  they  died  together  on  a  field  of  blood! — made 
equal,  as  we  doubt  not,  in  honor  and  in  joy,  to  those  who 
had  longer  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day,  though  they 
wrought  but  one  short  hour. 

Champion,  too,  is  on  the  list ;  who,  unlike  the  young  man 
in  the  Gospel,  went  not  away  sorrowful  from  Christ,  but  gave 
himself  and  all  he  had,  joyfully,  to  the  Lord,  and  went  away 
for  Christ,  to  proclaim  His  great  Salvation. 

Taylor  and  Everett  both  upheld  the  Cross  in  the  land  of 
the  Crescent,  and  found  a  crown  of  glory,  as  at  different 
times,  and  from  different  lands,  they  entered  into  rest. 

David  T.  Stoddard,  too,  is  partly  ours,  as  he  was  wholly 
Christ's  and  the  church's  servant  —  leaving  a  name  like  oint- 
ment poured  forth.  He  was  a  beloved  disciple,  of  whom  one 
of  his  veteran  associates  characteristically  remarked,  that  in 
him  was  fulfilled  the  promise  of  a  hundred  fold  return  to  those 
who  should  forsake  relatives  and  friends  for  Christ's  sake  and 
the  Gospel's. 

There  is  another  missionary  field,  technically  styled  foreign, 
though  it  lies  intermingled  with  our  own  broad  lands.  I  al- 
lude to  labors  among  the  North  American  aborigines — labors 
from  which  some  excellent  brethren  have  rested  in  peace,  and 


DR.  CHICKERING'S  ADDRESS.  45 

with  a  reward,  doubtless,  not  inferior  to  what  would  have 
been  their  portion,  had  more  attractive  and  widely  observed 
fields  of  self-denying  toil  been  allotted  to  them. 

Wright,  Mosely,  and  Allen,  all  of  the  Choctaw  Mission,  have 
left  an  abiding  name  among  the  Red  Men  of  the  forest,  and 
their  works  do  follow  them,  so  long  as  that  race  shall  endure. 

The  name  of  Cushman  is  associated  with  still  another 
field,  occupied  for  a  time  by  the  Foreign  Evangelical  Society, 
in  the  Island  of  Hayti,  where  he  labored  but  one  hour,  bearing 
the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day,  and  yet,  we  trust,  not  in  vain. 

Still  another  class  of  useful  laborers,  now  released,  have 
been  found  among  those  who,  though  not  missionaries  them- 
selves, have  acted  as  promoters  of  the  good  designs  of  the 
church.  Horace  Sessions  lost  his  life,  and  yet  found  it,  in 
Africa,  whither  he  went  as  an  Exploring  Agent  for  the  Colon- 
ization cause,  —  a  similar  errand  to  that  in  which  Mills  fell  a 
sacrifice. 

Joseph  Brown  was  long  and  usefully  devoted  to  the  Sea- 
men's cause. 

Ralph  Cushman,  for  a  shorter  time,  to  Home  Missions. 

John  M.  Ellis,  to  Western  Education. 

Josiah  W.  Powers,  to  the  Bible  Society. 

James  L.  Kimball,  to  the  Tract  cause  (the  latter  having  just 
died,  nearly  blind,  at  the  age  of  sixty). 

Samuel  Washburn,  for  a  time,  to  the  Sabbath  School  enter- 
prise. 

But  our  classification  and  specification  can  go  no  further. 
We  have  not  time  to  linger  among  our  dead.  Memories 
must  give  place  to  anticipations,  reflection  to  toil.  If  this 
branch  of  our  jubilee  exercises  reminds  us  that  we  are  not  in 
heaven,  since  no  death  is  there,  it  may  at  least  joyfully  re- 
mind us  that  we  are  ©n  the  way  thither. 

It  is  a  vast  cemetery  which  we  have  for  a  few  moments 
entered,  and  now  hastily  leave  —  this  wide-extended  portion 
of  death's  great  reaping-field,  in  which  these  417  bodies  of 
our  brethren  are  lying. 


46  DR.    C  HI  CKER  ING'S     ADDRESS. 

How  many  and  how  various  were  the  strokes  of  Providence 
by  which  they  have  been  brought  low ! 

Diseases,  both  bodily  and  mental,  sudden  and  fatal  events, 
both  by  land  and  by  sea,  have  reached  some,  at  home  and 
others  far  away,  and  proved,  as  we  trust,  voices  that  Jesus 
sent  to  call  them  to  His  arms. 

What  a  company  they  would  form,  if  they  were  here  visi- 
bly with  us  to-day !  And  what  a  wider  circle  of  bereaved 
relatives,  of  afflicted  friends,  of  flocks  left  without  a  shepherd, 
have  mourned  their  departure ! 

What  records  of  Christian  fidelity,  of  needful  discipline, 
and  of  the  faithfulness  of  a  covenant  God,  would  their  full 
history  afford ! 

Their  death-scenes,  how  eloquent  many  of  them  have  been ! 
—  more  suggestive  of  truth,  possibly,  and  more  persuasive  to 
duty,  in  some  cases,  than  aught  in  their  preceding  lives. 

Even  the  echos  of  those  dying  words  that  reach  our  ears 
are  touching  and  instructive.  Some  few  have  now  been  re- 
peated. 

And  who  of  us  does  not  remember  the  last  words  of  the 
lamented  Cowles,  who,  with  his  companion,  once  well  known 
on  this  hill,  was  lost  to  earth,  but  gained  heaven,  in  the  wreck 
of  the  steamer  "  Home?"  Just  as  the  vessel  parted,  engulfing 
our  brother  and  sister,  he  was  heard  to  say  :  "  They  that  trust 
in  Jesus  are  safe,  even  amidst  the  perils  of  the  sea." 

Calmly  and  firmly  did  Newman  meet  the  last  enemy,  to 
him  a  friendly  usher,  opening  the  way  to  a  father's  house  ;  a 
home  more  dear  than  that,  well-known  and  still  remaining 
near  our  ancient  sanctuary,  in  which  he  breathed  his  last. 

Three  times  Gordon  Hall  exclaimed,  "  Glory  to  Thee,  O 
God ! "  as  he  entered  into  glory. 

With  what  unaffected  cheerfulness  did  Richards  remark,  as 
from  his  dying  bed  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  Mission  Cem- 
etery :  "  How  surprising  and  joyful  it  will  be,  to  wake  up, 
here  in  Tillipally,  on  the  resurrection  morning ! "  And  then 
still  later,  with  indescribable  views  of  the  love  and  sufferings 


DR.  CHICKERING'S  ADDRESS.  47 

of  Christ,  he  expressed  a  willingness  to  have  his  own  suffer- 
ings become  more  intense,  if  his  views  of  the  Saviour  might 
become  still  more  clear  and  enrapturing. 

Hear  Isham,  in  all  his  agony  of  body,  saying,  "  Let  thy 
servant  depart  in  peace ;  "  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit!" 

With  what  a  modest  assurance,  an  unwavering  anticipation 
of  glory  soon  to  be  revealed,  did  Parsons  say,  three  days  be- 
fore his  death,  "  My  mortal  frame  grows  weaker  every  hour ; 
but  my  imperishable  spirit  grows  more  and  more  vigorous. 
The  world  fades  away  and  recedes  from  my  view,  while 
heaven  comes  nearer,  and  grows  brighter.  The  world  will 
soon  vanish  forever,  and  ALL  will  be  heaven." 
.  Hear  Taylor  say,  "  Oh,  to  be  absorbed  in  the  glory  of  God  ! 
This  is  what  I  want."  And  Judson  :  "  Death  will  never  take 
me  by  surprise,  I  feel  so  strong  in  Christ." 

But  we  cannot  any  farther  gather  up  even  last  dying  words. 
We  hope  to  hear  from  their  own  lips  songs  of  joy  and  ex- 
pressions of  love.  Perhaps  these  our  departed  brethren  and 
fellow-students  may  become  our  instructors,  when  we,  a  little 
later,  enter  upon  the  heavenly  state.  They  may  initiate  us 
into  the  mysteries  of  the  other  life,  and  be  our  guides  through 
the  Celestial  City. 

Happy  are  they  now  in  that  knowledge,  love,  holiness,  and 
safety. 

So  happy,  that  we  may  well  imagine,  as  was  said,  by  one 
of  our  number,  who  is  still  with  us,  that  they  smile  to  hear  us 
give  thanks  for  being  spared  to  meet  on  earth.  They,  doubt- 
less, praise  God  that  they  have  not  been  spared,  but  have 
been  taken — taken  from  labor  to  rest,  from  sin  to  holiness, 
from  weeping  friends  to  a  smiling  Saviour,  from  earth  to 
heaven. 

We  know  not  if  "  these  all  died  in  faith."  But  may  we  be 
followers  of  so  many  of  them  as,  through  faith  and  patience, 
inherit  the  promises. 


48  DR.  ANDERSON'S   ADDRESS. 

Dr.  Anderson,  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  tlie  American 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  had  been  requested  to  speak 
upon  the  relations  of  the  Seminary  to  the  Missionary 
work  in  Foreign  Lands ;  and  he  now  succeeded  Dr. 
Chickering  in  the  following 

ADDRESS. 

The  relations  sustained  by  the  Andover  Seminary  to  For- 
eign Missions,  is  a  theme  to  which  it  is  impossible  to  do  full 
justice.  Our  thoughts  advert  at  once  to  our  brethern  who  have 
gone  to  spend  their  lives  in  pagan  lands  ;  but  nothing  is  more 
essential  in  the  work  of  converting  the  world,  than  securing 
the  men  and  means  for  its  prosecution,  and  also  the  "  effectual, 
fervent  prayer"  of  the  righteous,  from  the  churches  here  at 
home.  For  the  instrumentality,  in  this  part  of  the  great 
work,  we  must  look  mainly  to  the  ministry  in  this  country. 
And  who  can  estimate  the  amount  of  missionary  influence 
that  has  been  exerted  by  the  more  than  one  thousand  alumni 
of  this  seminary  (not  to  speak  of  some  six  or  seven  hundred 
others  here  for  only  part  of  the  course),  who  have  remained 
at  home,  as  pastors,  presidents  and  professors  of  colleges, 
professors  in  theological  seminaries,  agents  in  the  different 
charities,  and  editors  of  the  religious  press  ?  Most  of  these 
may  reasonably  be  presumed  to  have  been  interested  in  an 
enterprise,  in  which  so  many  of  their  fellow-students  have 
been  personally  engaged,  and  which  has  ever  had  a  strong 
hold  on  the  Professors  of  the  institution,  and  on  the  body  of 
the  students.  Of  the  $6,500,000  contributed  to  the  American 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  how  large  a  proportion  must  have 
resulted  mainly  from  the  blessing  of  God  on  their  agency ! 
And  the  same  may  be  said  concerning  the  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  ordained  missionaries,  who  have  gone  forth  in 
connection  with  that  Board. 

Another  difficulty  in  tracing  the  influence  of  this  seminary 
on  foreign  missions,  arises  from  the  fact,  that  the  streams  from 
so  many  other  kindred  institutions  commingle  with  ours,  in 
every  missionary  field  whither  our  brethren  have  gone. 


DE.  ANDERSON'S   ADDRESS.  49 

There  is  much,  however,  in  the  relations  of  our  Seminary 
to  foreign  missions,  that  may  be  stated  with  precision  and 
confidence. 

1.  It  is  an  interesting  and  suggestive  fact,  that  its  leading 
founders  were  among  the  fathers  of  both  our  foreign  and  our 
home  missions.     This  I  need  not  illustrate. 

2.  Our  Seminary  came  just  in  time  to  meet  a  most  impor- 
tant exigency,  growing  out  of  the  revival  of  the  missionary 
spirit  in  our  churches.     The  earliest  personal  consecrations  to 
the  work  of  foreign  missions  in  these  United  States,  occurred 
in  Williams  College,  just  coeval  with  the  founding  of  this 
Seminary,  fifty  years  ago.    Several  young  men  then  and  there 
put  themselves  under  a  written  pledge  to  effect  a  foreign  mis- 
sion in  their  own  persons,  and  two  of  these  belonged  to  the 
first  company  of  foreign  missionaries.     The  others  in  that 
immortal  band  —  from  Brown,  Harvard  and  Union  Colleges 
—  appear  not  to  have  actually  resolved  upon  a  foreign  mission 
before  entering  this   Seminary,  though  their  first  thoughts 
and  feelings  on  the  subject  seem  to  have  had  no  direct  con- 
nection with  the  brethren  from  Williams  College.     What  was 
needed,  just  at  that  time,  was  such  an  institution  as  this,  to 
bring  those  and  other  young  men  called  to  the  work  into  cir- 
cumstances favorable  to  personal  acquaintance,  conference 
and  fellowship,  where  they  could  associate  and  act  together, 
and  thus  secure  the  needful  cooperation  of  the  churches,  and 
overcome,  with  God's  blearing,  those  formidable  obstacles, 
which  new  and  great  enterprises  generally  encounter  in  their 
incipient  stages.    Such  a  purpose  this  Seminary  did  fully  an- 
swer, and  thus  it  came  into  most  intimate  relation  to  the 
work  of  foreign  missions  at  the  outset  of  that  enterprise.    And 
I  have  not  been  able  to  see  in  what  way  the  subsequent  mis- 
sionary development  in  our  churches,  down  to  the  present 
time,  could  have  been  effected  without  the  aid  of  our  theo- 
logical institutions.     The  excellent  Mr.  Norris,  of  Salem,  was 
right  in  the  belief,  when  aiding  munificently  in  founding  this 
Institution,  that  he  was  thus  directly  and  materially  aiding  to 
send  the  gospel  to  the  pagan  world. 


•50  DR.  ANDERSON'S  ADDRESS. 

3.  Our  Seminary  stands  in  immediate  relations  to  the 
forming  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  For- 
eign Missions  in  the  year  1810,  and  so  to  all  that  has  resulted 
from  that  important  event.     For  it  was  within  its  own  walls, 
and  among  its  own  members,  that  the  scheme  for  foreign 
missions  to  be  sustained  by  the  churches  of  this  western 
world  first  assumed  the  visible,  tangible  form  which  gave  rise 
to  that  Board,  and  to  the  formal,  extensive  enlistment  in  the 
foreign  missionary  enterprise  of  the  Congregational,  Presby- 
terian, and  Baptist  denominations.     Let  us  unitedly  thank 
God  that  it  was  here  the  sacred  stream  of  the  gospel  had  its 
first  flow  from  this  our  favored  land  into  the  mighty  deserts 
of  the  heathen  world. 

4.  It  pleased  God  so  to  order  in  his  providence,  that  our 
Seminary  furnished  the  missionaries  for  the  first  American 
occupation  of  not  a  few  of  the  great  districts  in  the  unevan- 
gelized  world,  which  have  since  become  distinguished  in  the 
annals  of  our  foreign  missions.     It  was  our  brethren  Hall, 
Newell  and  Nott,  who  commenced  the  mission  among  the 
Mahrattas,  in  western  India.     It  was   our  brother   Judson 
who  commenced  the  Baptist  mission  in  Burmah,  in  eastern 
India.     The  mission  in  Ceylon  was  commenced  by  our  breth- 
ren Richards,  Warren,  Meigs  and  Poor ;  that  to  Palestine  by 
our  brethren  Parsons  and  Fisk  ;  that  among  the  southwestern 
Indians  by  our  brother  Kingsbury;    that  to  the   Sandwich 
Islands  (so  far  as  ordained  missionaries  are  concerned)  by  our 
brethren  Bingham  and  Thurston  ;  that  to  the  Arabs  of  Leba- 
non by  our  brethren  Bird  and  Goodell ;  that  to  the  Armenians 
by  our  brethren  Goodell  and  Dwight ;  the  first  American  mis- 
sion to  China  by  our  brother  Bridgman  ;  that  to  the  Nesto- 
rians  by  our  brother  Perkins,  —  the  people  having  been  pre- 
viously visited  and  made  known  to  the  Christian  world  by 
our  brethren  Smith  and  Dwight ;  and  our  brethren  Champion 
and  Aldin  Grout  composed  the  clerical  members  of  the  mis- 
sion which  first  took  possession  of  the  ground  now  occupied 
by  the  Zulu  mission,  in  southern  Africa.     All  this  was  the 
Lord's  doing,  and  not  the  result  of  any  preference  or  plan  on 


DR.  ANDERSON'S  ADDRESS. 


51 


the  part  of  missionary  boards  or  directors.  The  men  who  were 
sent  on  these  pioneer  missions  were  often,  if  not  always,  the 
only  men  at  hand  for  the  service  when  it  was  to  be  performed. 

5.  One  hundred  and  thirty-four  foreign  missionaries  have 
gone  from  this  Seminary,  including  fifteen  who  pursued  a 
partial  course ;  and  all  but  nine  in  connection  with  the  Amer- 
ican Board.  Eight  went  to  Africa ;  ninety  to  Asia  (regarding 
Constantinople  as  an  Asiatic  city) ;  two  to  eastern  Europe ; 
sixteen  to  the  Pacific  ;  one  as  an  explorer  to  South  America ; 
one  to  the  West  Indies ;  and  sixteen  to  the  North  American 
Indians.  Sixty-six,  or  nearly  one-half,  are  now  in  the  field ; 
— four  in  Africa,  forty  in  Asia,  two  in  eastern  Europe,  twelve 
in  the  Pacific,  and  eight  among  the  North  American  Indians. 

In  this  connection  it  will  be  proper  to  state  the  number  of 
foreign  missionaries  who  have  gone  from  our  Seminary  in  con- 
nection with  other  kindred  institutions,  which  I  do  in  a  tabu- 
lar form.  The  ages  of  the  different  seminaries  here  named 
may  be  thus  indicated :  Ours  sent  forth  its  first  class  in  the 
year  1809 ;  Princeton,  in  1812 ;  Bangor,  in  1820 ;  Auburn,  in 
1825  ;  New  Haven,  in  1826;  Western  Reserve,  as  late  as  1832; 
Lane,  in  1833 ;  East  Windsor,  in  1836 ;  and  Union,  in  1838. 


1 

1 

§ 

• 

> 

• 

ci 

v 

>. 

0 

T3 

fi 

fcX) 

s 

3 

a 
_o 

I 

I 

| 

M 

§ 

1 

i 

d 

P? 

1 

S3 

9 

GJ 

5 

'3 

*E 

3 

" 

O 

3 

*n 

g 

« 

W 

& 

P 

OH 

|J 

H 

fe 

O" 

& 

o 

02 

Total. 

Northern  Africa, 

1 

1 

Western  Africa, 

3 

1 

i 

2 

12 

7 

1 

_ 

28 

Southern  Africa, 

5 

4 

2 

2 

1 

2 

16 

Eastern  Europe, 

2 

1 

3 

Western  Asia, 

44 

5 

4 

9 

19 

7 

7 

2 

2 

2 

1 

102 

Western  India, 

18 

4 

5 

1 

28 

Northern  India, 

21 

21 

Southern  India  and  1 
Ceylon,                       \ 

15 

2 

3 

6 

7 

4 

2 

4 

3 

46 

Eastern  Asia,         1 
(East  of  Bengal),  f 
Pacific  Ocean, 

13 
16 

6 

3 
1 

7 
2 

3 
4 

19 

8 

4 

8 

2 

3 
2 

11 

2 

67 
47 

South  America, 

1 

1 

West  Indies, 

1 

1 

2 

N.  A.  Indians, 

16 

1 

1 

2 

1 

19 

1 

4 

45 

Total, 

1~34 

74 

74 

~26 

"43 

99 

25 

7 

"22 

74 

~2 

"73 

~2 

407 

52 


DE.    ANDERSON  S     ADDRESS. 


The  number  from  these  different  seminaries  now  in  the 
field,  is  indicated  by  the  following  table. 


M 

i 

§ 

o 

1 

0> 

^ 

_g 

1 

o 

j 

V 

g 

> 

'O 

1 

5? 

? 

§ 

1 

JS 

1 

c3 

S 

> 

o 

g 

o 

a 

a 

<1) 

S- 

"2 

"3 

« 

A 

% 

<5 

^ 

H 

% 

O1 

p 

Total. 

Northern  Africa, 

1 

1 

Western  Africa, 

1 

2 

5 

3 

11 

Southern  Africa, 

3 

4 

2 

2 

1 

1 

13 

Eastern  Europe, 

2 

2 

Western  Asia, 

23 

5 

3 

2 

17 

2 

2 

1 

1 

56 

Western  India, 

6 

4 

1 

1 

12 

Northern  India, 

10 

10 

S.  India  and  Ceylon, 

9 

1 

1 

4 

2 

2 

2 

2 

3 

1 

27 

Eastern  Asia, 

2 

2 

4 

8 

2 

1 

3 

22 

Pacific, 

12 

6 

2 

1 

6 

5 

2 

34 

West  Indies, 

1 

1 

N.  A.  Indians, 

8 

7 

1 

2 

18 

Total, 

66 

12 

9 

11 

32 

41 

13 

4 

Ti 

6 

1 

1 

207 

As  perhaps  a  score  or  more  of  these  brethren  divided  their 
theological  studies  between  two  seminaries,  their  names 
sometimes  appear  on  the  catalogues  of  both. 

These  tables  show  that  188  foreign  missionaries  have  gone 
from  the  seminaries  in  New  England,  and  219  from  kindred 
seminaries  out  of  New  England.  Of  these,  98  from  the  New 
England  seminaries  are  now  in  the  field,  and  109  from  those 
out  of  New  England ;  distributed  as  follows,  and  making  a 
total  of  207. 


N.  E.  Seminaries. 

Seminaries 
out  of  N.  E. 

Total. 

Northern  Africa, 

1 

1 

Western  Africa, 

1 

10 

11 

Southern  Africa, 

9 

4 

13 

Eastern  Europe, 

2 

2 

Western  Asia, 

33 

23 

56 

Western  India, 

6 

6 

12 

Northern  India, 

10 

10 

Southern  India  and  Ceylon, 

11 

16 

27 

Eastern  Asia, 

8 

14 

22 

Pacific, 

20 

14 

34 

West  Indies, 

1 

1 

N.  A.  Indians, 

8 

10 

18 

Total, 

98 

109 

207 

ADDRESS.  53 

6.  It  is  my  belief  that  our  brethren  who  have  gone  on  these 
foreign  missions  have  effected  more,  as  a  body,  for  the  king- 
dom of  Christ,  than  they  could  have  done  by  remaining  in 
their  native  land.  This,  of  course,  cannot  be  distinctly 
proved,  but  to  my  own  mind  it  is  more  than  probable.  How 
vast  the  reflex  influence  thus  exerted  upon  the  churches  at 
home !  Could  they  have  done  as  much,  even  for  these 
churches  alone,  by  remaining  at  home  ?  What  a  mighty  ruin, 
what  wide-spread  moral  desolation  there  would  be  in  our 
country,  were  all  the  results  of  this  influence  at  home  to  be 
annihilated !  And  then  what  have  they  effected,  through 
God's  grace,  abroad  in  the  unevangelized  world !  I  shall 
attempt  no  general  description.  Even  were  it  possible  to  sep- 
arate the  results  of  their  labors  from  those  of  their  brethren 
of  kindred  institutions,  the  time  would  fail  me. 

I  may  just  allude  to  translations  of  the  sacred  Scriptures; 
—  to  the  labors  of  Hall,  Graves,  Allen,  Burgess  and  Ballan- 
tine,  in  the  Mahratta  language ;  of  Spaulding  and  Winslow 
in  the  Tamil ;  of  Goodell  in  the  Armeno- Turkish  ;  of  Riggs 
in  the  Modern  Armenian  ;  of  Schauffler  in  the  Hebrew- Span- 
ish ;  of  Perkins  in  the  Modern  Syriac ;  of  Walker  in  the 
Greybo ;  of  Bryant  and  Lewis  Grout  in  the  Caffre-Zulu ;  of 
Worcester  in  the  Cherokee ;  of  Byington  and  Wright  in  the 
Choctaw ;  of  Sherman  Hall  in  the  Ojibwa ;  of  Asher  Wright 
in  the  Seneca ;  of  Bingham  and  Thurston  in  the  Hawaiian  ; 
and  of  Eli  Smith  in  the  Arabic.  What  imagination  can 
comprehend  the  value  of  these  labors  ?  And  it  should  be  re- 
membered, that  the  Greybo,  Caffre-Zulu,  Cherokee,  Choctaw, 
Ojibwa,  and  Hawaiian  languages  had  all  to  be  reduced  to  a 
written  form,  before  they  could  be  used  in  translating. 

Among  the  successful  labors  of  our  brother  Eli  Smith, 
aided  by  the  mechanical  ingenuity  of  Mr.  Homan  Hallock, 
was  a  new  and  beautiful  Arabic  type,  modelled  on  the  best 
caligraphy  in  that  language ;  which  must  in  time  everywhere 
supersede  the  old  letter,  and  perhaps  reconcile  the  Moslem  to 
printed  books  by  their  close  resemblance  to  the  best  man- 
uscripts. 


54  DR.  ANDERSON'S  ADDRESS. 

It  may  also  be  stated,  that  several  of  our  brethren  have 
done  good  service  in  exploring-  the  unevangelized  world.  Our 
brother  Brigham  explored  a  considerable  portion  of  Spanish 
America.  Our  brethren  Smith  and  Dwight  explored  Arme- 
nia, and  also  a  part  of  the  country  of  the  Nestorians.  Our 
brother  Eli  Smith,  in  company  with  the  writer  of  this,  had 
previously  explored  the  more  interesting  parts  of  what  now 
constitutes  the  kingdom  of  Greece.  Our  brother  Spaulding 
explored  the  field  for  the  Madura  mission.  Our  brethren 
Munson  and  Lyman  sacrificed  their  lives  in  exploring  the 
Island  of  Sumatra.  Our  brother  Jonathan  Green  explored 
portions  of  the  northwest  coast  of  this  continent.  Our 
brother  Bird,  at  much  personal  hazard,  brought  to  light  the 
Maronite  community  of  Lebanon.  Our  brother  Eli  Smith 
explored  the  Houran,  beyond  Jordan,  though  the  notes  of  his 
tour  were  unfortunately  lost  by  shipwreck.  And  how  rapidly 
are  the  reading  portion  of  our  evangelical  churches  becoming 
familiar,  through  the  Christian  enterprise  of  our  brethren  and 
their  worthy  compeers  from  other  seminaries,  with  the  physi- 
cal, social  and  religious  condition  of  Lebanon,  Syria,  Asia 
Minor,  Armenia,  Mesopotamia,  Koordistan,  Persia,  India, 
China,  and  the  Islands  of  the  Pacific.  Why  are  the  geogra- 
phy, manners,  customs,  and  religious  necessities  of  the  nations 
beyond  the  bounds  of  Christendom  now  known  incomparably 
better  than  they  were  fifty  years  ago  ?  The  cause  is  chiefly 
found  in  the  missionary  enterprises  of  the  past  fifty  years. 

7.  The  discussion  of  our  subject  would  be  incomplete  with- 
out a  reference  to  another  class  of  brethren,  standing  in  direct 
and  immediate  relation  to  foreign  missions.  These  are  the 
Secretaries  of  some  of  our  older  benevolent  societies, —  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  the 
American  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  the  American  Bible 
Society,  and  the  American  Tract  Society.  The  class  of  1822 
furnished  secretaries  for  the  first  and  for  the  last  two  of 
these  societies ;  one  of  whom  has  been  laboring  thirty-two 
years  in  the  correspondence,  and  the  two  others  thirty-five 


DR.  ANDERSON'S   ADDRESS.  55 

years.  The  class  of  1823  furnished  a  secretary  for  the  Amer- 
ican Baptist  Missionary  Union,  whose  term  of  service  was 
twenty-two  years.  The  class  of  1824  furnished  a  secretary 
for  the  American  Tract  Society,  and  another  for  the  American 
Board,  the  former  of  whom  has  been  twenty-six  years  in  office, 
the  latter  ten.  The  class  of  1826  furnished  another  secretary 
for  the  American  Board,  whose  official  term  was  twenty-two 
years ;  and  the  class  of  1835  furnished  still  another,  who  has 
performed  eleven  years  of  service  in  that  office.  The  expend- 
iture of  these  societies  for  foreign  missions,  during  the  official 
life  of  these  eight  brethren,  has  exceeded  nine  millions  of 
dollars. 

8.  Nor  must  that  class  of  laborers  be  omitted  who  have 
toiled  especially  to  collect  the  funds  for  the  support  of  foreign 
missions.     Those  coming  within  the  range  of  this  survey,  all 
labored  in  connection  with  the  American  Board.     I  have  the 
names  of  sixty-six  from  this  seminary,  about  half  of  whom 
afterwards  went  abroad  as  missionaries.     Five  were  general 
agents  ;  four  are  now  district  secretaries. 

9.  I  must  state  the  average  length  of  missionary  service 
performed  by  our  brethren.     This  is  greater  than  has  been 
supposed,  and  is  gaining  every  year.     The  sum-total  of  mis- 
sionary life  of  the  134  from  this  Seminary,  who  devoted  them- 
selves to  labors  among  the  heathen  (to  July,  1858),  is  1,873 
years  (reckoning  from  the  departure  from  this  country,  and 
also,  in  the  case  of  those  who  have  retired  from  the  service, 
to  the  time  of  their  return) ;  so  that  the  average  for  each  is 
fourteen  years.     I  have  the  periods  of  the  thirty-four  who 
have  died  in  the  field.     One  died  in  Western  Africa,  one  in 
the  West  Indies,  and  two  by  violence  in  Sumatra  at  the  end 
of  the  first  year.     Several  of  the  earlier  deaths  resulted  from 
the  inexperience  attending  all  new  enterprises  in  strange  lands. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  deaths  were  in  the  first  stages  of 
the  missions.     The  average  length  of  service  of  these  thirty- 
four  brethren  was  eleven  years.     But  our  sixty-six  brethren, 
still  living  and  now  prosecuting  their  missionary  work,  have 


56  DR.  ANDERSON'S   ADDRESS. 

already  seen  seventeen  years  and  a  half,  —  showing  that  the 
other  period  is  no  proper  measure  for  future  times,  —  and  this 
is  of  course  growing  longer  every  day.  Our  two  brethren 
who  died  on  the  Islands  of  the  Pacific,  averaged  seventeen 
years  and  six  months  ;  and  the  twelve  now  there  average 
eighteen  years  and  four  months.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that 
our  five  brethren  who  died  in  Southern  India  and  Ceylon 
attained  to  the  average  of  thirteen  years  and  nine  months, 
(which  is  larger  than  anywhere  else,  save  the  Pacific),  and  the 
average  period  of  the  nine  now  in  India  is  twenty-one  years 
and  nine  months.  Mr.  Mullens,  a  highly  intelligent  English 
missionary  at  Calcutta,  states  that,  from  a  careful  induction 
of  the  lives  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  missionaries  in  India,  he 
found  the  average  duration  of  missionary  labor  in  that  coun- 
try to  have  been  sixteen  years  and  three  quarters. 

It  should  be  added,  that  fifteen  of  our  brethren  (of  whom 
four  are  deceased)  have  been  in  the  field  from  thirty  and  a  half 
years  to  forty-two  and  three-fourths.  Two,  now  living,  have 
both  seen  more  than  forty-two  years  of  foreign  service ;  and 
the  highest  average  among  our  old  men,  is  in  India. 

10.  Our  deceased  missionary  brethren,  in  whatever  country 
they  have  died,  and  whether  early  or  late,  appear  to  have 
finished  their  course  without  regrets  that  they  had  chosen  the 
work  of  foreign  missions.  So  far  as  we  have  authentic 
records  of  their  deaths,  they  expressed  great  satisfaction  in 
having  been  called  of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  declare  his  name 
among  the  heathen.  They  died  in  the  Lord,  and  are  blessed, 
and  their  works  do  follow  them. 

This  completes  the  historical  review  assigned  to  me.  It 
were  easy  to  have  gone  far  more  into  detail.  I  might  have 
selected  the  labors  of  particular  stations  and  missions.  But 
anything,  except  a  very  general  view,  must  needs  have  been 
greatly  extended ;  and  even  then  it  were  hard  to  have  given 
our  history  a  generous  and  impartial  air.  But  all  will  doubt- 
less be  ready  to  admit,  that  this  institution,  in  its  bearing  on 
foreign  missions,  has  hitherto  stood  preeminent  among  the 


DR.  BADGER'S  ADDRESS.  57 

other  similar  institutions  of  our  land.  May  it  strive,  with  a 
holy  emulation,  ever  to  hold  this  praiseworthy  position.  Its 
sons  are  descended  from  the  pilgrims,  and  it  was  founded  and 
endowed  for  the  preservation  and  propagation  of  the  religion 
of  the  pilgrims.  A  large  portion  of  those  whom  it  has  sent 
abroad  for  this  purpose,  have  been  among  its  most  promising 
sons.  The  sending  of  such  men  will  not  impoverish  our 
churches.  They  react  upon  their  country,  like  successful  gen- 
erals. Let  us  pray  that  this  Seminary  may  go  forth,  in  the 
person  of  its  sons,  with  the  gospel,  "  into  all  the  world,"  that 
thus  it  may  claim  and  realize  the  promise  of  its  Lord  and 
Master,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway." 

66  The  connection  of  the  Seminary  with  the  work  of 
Home  Missions  and  with  Western  Colleges/'  was  next 
presented  by  Dr.  Milton  Badger,  one  of  the  Secretaries 
of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  in  the  fol- 
lowing 

ADDRESS. 

Andover  Theological  Seminary  has  often,  and  most  truly  ? 
been  called  a  Foreign  Missionary  Institution.  It  is  no  less  a 
Home  Missionary  Institution,  as  the  lives  and  labors  of  many 
of  the  most  gifted  of  her  sons  abundantly  testify. 

Samuel  J.  Mills  commenced  his  great  mission  "  at  Jerusa- 
lem," —  in  his  own  country  and  among  his  own  kindred.  In 
1812  and  1813,  in  connection  with  his  classmate,  Schermer- 
horn,  he  was  appointed,  by  the  Massachusetts  and  Connec- 
ticut Missionary  Societies,  to  explore  the  frontier  settlements, 
from  Lake  Erie  to  New  Orleans.  He  was  appointed,  also,  to 
a  similar  service  in  1814  and  1815,  in  connection  with  Daniel 
Smith,  of  the  class  succeeding  his.  A  line,  drawn  from  mid- 
way the  length  of  Lake  Erie  to  New  Orleans,  —  throwing 
northwest  of  it  one-third  of  Ohio,  and  one-half  of  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee,  and  the  whote  of  the  North  West  Territory 

8 


58  DR.  BADGER'S   ADDRESS. 

besides,  —  ran,  at  that  time,  along  the  outskirts  of  western 
emigration.  Their  explorations  were  chiefly  southeast  of  this 
line.  Northwest  of  it,  the  population  did  not  exceed  one 
hundred  thousand,  where  now  are  more  than  eight  millions. 

Mills  and  his  associates  report  but  one  Presbyterian  or 
Congregational  minister  in  the  Indiana  Territory,  none  in  Illi- 
nois, and  he  himself  is  reported  as  the  first  minister  of  either 
of  these  denominations  who  ever  entered  the  Territory  of 
Missouri.  "  The  whole  country,"  they  say,  "  from  Lake  Erie 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  is  as  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death.  Only  here  and  there  a  few  rays  of  gospel  light  pierce 
through  the  gloom."  Yet,  with  prophetic  eye  do  they  see  the 
incoming  of  a  mighty  flood  of  emigration,  —  a  population 
overspreading  this  untrodden  wjlderness,  as  the  sands  of  the 
seashore  for  multitude.  And  they  send  back  their  soul-stir- 
ring appeals  to  the  churches,  to  their  brethren  in  the  ministry, 
to  the  candidates  for  the  sacred  office,  "  Come  over  and  help 
us." 

A  correspondence,  between  Mills  and  his  associates  and  the 
students  of  this  Seminary,  was  commenced  at  this  date  and 
in  these  circumstances,  —  a  correspondence  between  the  la- 
borers in  the  Home  field  and  those  preparing  for  it,  —  which 
has  had  little  or  no  interruption  to  the  present  time. 

Gould,  and  Giddings,  and  Lamed, — for  Lamed  commenced 
his  brilliant  career,  his  meteor  blaze,  as  a  Home  Missionary  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  —  these 
caught  the  spirit  of  Mills,  and  laid  themselves  upon  the  altar  of 
Missions  at  Home.  And  the  same  spirit  led  Hall,  and  Charles 
B.  Storrs,  and  Ellis,  and  many  others,  in  succeeding  years,  to 
say,  "  Here  are  we :  send  us."  So  that,  from  the  second  class 
that  left  the  Institution  in  1810,  to  the  class  that  leaves  it  to- 
day, —  unless  the  class  of  1856  be  an  exception,  —  not  one 
has  been  without  its  representative  in  the  field  of  western 
missions ;  and  the  representatives  of  some  of  them  have 
numbered  six,  ten,  fourteen,  and  even  twenty. 

There  has  been  no  great  exigency  in  the  missionary  work, 


DR.  BADGER'S  ADDRESS.  59 

no  unusual  call  for  men  of  self-denial  and  toil,  that  has  not 
met  with  a  noble  response  from  this  Institution. 

When  the  immense  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  was  thrown 
open  for  occupancy,  its  dimensions  taken,  its  capabilities  de- 
scribed, and  multitudes  on  multitudes  were  seeking  in  it  their 
home  for  this  life  arid  their  scene  of  preparation  for  another, 
how  did  the  sons  of  this  Institution  count  it  the  joy  of  their 
hearts  to  break  away  from  kindred,  and  home,  and  the  most 
inviting  prospects  here,  to  go  and  tell  those  wanderers  of 
Jesus  and  the  resurrection!  What  contributions  did  the 
classes  from  1825  to  1835  —  those  large  classes  of  large- 
souled  men  —  make  to  the  cause  of  Missions  in  that  great 
Valley,  —  contributions  of  men,  who  could  fill  any  place  and 
command  respect  anywhere  ;  who  knew  how  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  society,  and  who  did  lay  them  on  the  everlasting 
rock ;  who  knew  how  to  make  the  wilderness  blossom,  and 
under  whose  culture  it  did  blossom  and  bear  fruit,  thirty,  sixty 
and  a  hundred-fold ! 

And  when,  in  succeeding  years,  the  call  was  for  men  to 
cross  the  Upper  Mississippi — to  erect  the  banner  of  the  cross 
in  the  face  of  Infidelity,  and  Atheism,  and  Mormonism,  and 
Popery,  each  sneering  with  equal  contempt  at  Protestant 
Christianity,  and  each  competing  with  every  other  for  the  pre- 
eminence and  the  mastery  in  giving  shape  and  character  to 
the  faith,  the  morals,  the  hopes,  the  immortal  destiny  of  those 
around  them,  —  and  the  cry  was  long,  and  loud,  and  none 
responded;  then,  did  a  band  of  twelve  brethren  gather  to- 
gether, night  after  night,  by  the  light  of  the  moon,  in  this 
upper  chamber, —  the  Library  of  the  Institution,  —  and  pray, 
"  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  us  to  do  ? "  And  the  Lord 
hearkened  and  heard ;  and  in  his  name  they  went  forth,  in 
apostolic  number,  and  with  what  spirit  you  may  gather  from 
their  own  language.  "  We  are  bought  with  a  price  ;  and  at 
how  dear  a  price  we  are  ready  to  testify  by  thrusting  our- 
selves into  the  forefront  of  the  battle.  We  can  bear  privations, 
we  can  endure  hardships,  we  can  sleep  sweetly  in  an  early 


60  DR.    BADGER'S  ADDRESS. 

grave  till  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  if  we  may  but 
preach  Christ  and  him  crucified  to  our  perishing  fellow-coun- 
trymen. We  crave  the  privilege  of  traversing  those  ocean 
prairies,  though  it  be  in  weariness  and  watchings,  in  cold  and 
nakedness,  if  ours  may  be  the  blessedness  of  pointing  their 
inhabitants  to  the  Lamb  of  God."  What  changes  have  taken 
place  in  these  fifteen  years  !  The  population  of  Iowa  at  that 
time,  1843,  was  less  that  70,000;  now  it  is  more  than 
700,000 ;  and  its  score  of  churches  have  become  ten  score ; 
and  there  is  a  well-ordered  Christian  community  now,  where 
the  apostle  of  Atheism  then  boasted  that  he  would  raise  up 
a  generation  that  should  know  no  God. 

And  when  bleeding  Kansas  cries  for  sympathy  and  for  help, 
—  for  the  Gospel  of  Jesus,  to  alleviate  her  woes  and  bring 
her  redemption,  - —  another  band,  a  fourfold  cord,  not  quickly 
broken,  is  here  formed  in  another  place  of  prayer ;  and  these 
noble  representatives  of  the  class  of  1857  are  now  at  their 
posts  in  Lawrence,  Quindaro,  Leavenworth  City,  and  Em- 
poria,  bearing  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day  with  a  faith 
that  knows  no  wavering. 

In  like  manner  have  difficult  posts  in  Michigan,  Wisconsin, 
Minnesota,  California,  Oregon  —  wherever  the  wanderer  has 
found  his  home,  and  the  population  has  rolled  up  its  numbers, 
and  sin,  in  its  legion  forms  and  with  giant  strength,  has  sought 
to  stamp  its  image  on  the  forming  elements  of  society — there 
have  these  posts  been  manned,  with  cheerfulness  and  marked 
ability,  by  the  Alumni  of  this  Institution, 

And  need  I  tell  you  what  these  men  have  done,  through  the 
lapse  of  half  a  century  ?  They  have  done  what  ministers  in 
older  settlements  do — gathered  many  sons  and  daughters  into 
glory.  They  have  done  more.  They  have  planted  churches^ 
by  the  side  of  many  waters,  on  the  mountain  slopes,  in  the 
broad  valleys,  at  the  entering  in  of  the  gates,  amidst  the  con- 
course of  much  people.  T/iese  are  their  jewels  ;  monuments 
they  are,  more  beautiful  than  marble,  more  enduring  than 
brass.  They  will  throw  open  their  portals  to  the  fathers,  and 


DR.  BADGER'S  ADDRESS.  61 

the  children,  and  the  children's  children,  long  after  those  who 
founded  them  have  entered  into  their  rest. 

When  you  have  come  fully  to  understand  what  a  church 
of  God  is  —  what  its  design,  and  its  influence,  through  the 
preaching  of  the  word  and  the  outspouring  of  the  Spirit  from 
generation  to  generation — go,  count  up  the  churches  which 
have  been  formed  by  those  who  have  been  connected  with 
this  Institution  while  engaged  in  missionary  service  at  the 
West ;  see  where  they  are,  and  what  they  are  to-day ;  what 
their  numbers,  and  their  wealth,  and  their  benefactions,  and 
their  relations  to  whatsoever  refines  and  ennobles  man,  fits  him 
for  the  varied  duties  of  his  early  existence,  and  for  a  higher 
life  above  ;  and  then  you  will  understand  that  these  men  have 
not  labored  in  vain,  nor  spent  their  strength  for  nought. 

But  this  is  not  all  they  have  done.  They  have  established 
institutions  of  learning. 

Marietta  College  was  founded  to  "  meet  the  demands,"  in 
the  destitutions  around  it,  "  for  competent  teachers  and  for 
ministers  of  the  Gospel."  And  this  Seminary  has  given  to  it 
one  President  and  five  Professors. 

Western  Reserve  College  was  founded  by  Home  Mission- 
aries. None  more  prominent  or  valued  in  the  counsels  which 
planned  it,  and  in  the  success  of  its  earliest  years,  than  its 
first  Professor  of  Theology  and  first  President,  Charles  B. 
Storrs,  —  a  name  which  neither  science  nor  religion  nor  hu- 
manity will  cease  to  revere,  while  there  is  a  human  intellect 
to  be  enlightened,  or  a  human  soul  to  be  redeemed,  or  a  man- 
acle to  be  taken  from  the  hands  of  the  oppressed.  This 
Seminary  has  given  to  Western  Reserve  College  two  Presi- 
dents and  seven  Professors. 

Salmon  Giddings,  for  twelve  years  a  burning  and  shining 
light  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  was  spared  to  unite  with  Ellis  — 
John  M.  Ellis  —  than  whom  few  men,  living  or  dead,  have 
done  more  for  the  cause  of  education  at  the  West  —  in  prayer 
and  counsel  and  efforts  to  secure  a  location  for  a  College  in 
Illinois,  and  in  preparing  the  way  for  union  with  that  far- 


62  DR.  BADGER'S   ADDRESS. 

sighted,  enterprising,  and  devoted  band  from  New  Haven, 
in  founding  the  College  at  Jacksonville.  This  Seminary 
has  given  to  Illinois  College  one  President  and  two  Profes- 
sors. 

Wabash  College  was  projected,  and  has  been  fostered,  by 
Home  Missionaries,  Alumni  of  this  Seminary.  When  its  site 
was  obtained,  Ellis,  and  Baldwin  —  its  first  President  —  with 
others  now  living,  in  a  cold  winter's  day,  kneeled  on  the  snow, 
in  the  primeval  forest,  and  dedicated  it  to  Christ  and  the 
church.  This  Seminary  has  given  to  Wabash  College  two 
Presidents  and  three  Professors.  Previous  to  its  late  com- 
mencement, Wabash  College  had  sent  out  111  graduates,  42 
of  whom  have  become  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  26  of 
them  Home  Missionaries ;  one  of  whom,  whose  work  on 
earth  is  ended,  it  is  supposed  had  more  that  400  converts 
under  his  short  ministry.  ' 

Iowa  College  was  also  founded  by  Home  Missionaries,  and 
this  Seminary  has  given  to  it  four  Professors. 

The  Alumni  of  this  Institution  were  also  concerned  in  the 
establishment  of  Lane  Seminary,  and  Andover  has  given  to  it 
five  Professors. 

Other  Colleges  and  Seminaries  of  Sacred  Science  have 
been  founded,  in  like  manner,  over  the  broad  missionary  field 
of  the  West  and  Southwest ;  and  the  whole  number  of  Pres- 
idents which  Andover  has  given  to  them  is  nineteen,  and  of 
Professors  forty-four. 

And  would  you  know  the  value  of  such  labors  in  the  cause 
of  education  ?  Satisfy  yourself,  first  of  all,  what  an  educated 
man  is.  Take  the  dimensions  of  his  intellectual  and  moral 
worth,  of  his  sanctified  affections,  if  he  be  a  man  of  God,  if 
you  can.  Then  take  up  the  catalogue  of  a  College,  whose 
business  it  is  to  make  such  men,  and  keep  making  them  to 
the  end  of  time,  and  ask  yourself  who  are  these  ?  —  and 
where  are  they  ?  —  what  have  they  done  in  their  lifetime  ? 
and  what  could  the  world  do  without  them  ?  —  Measure  if  you 
can,  comprehend  if  you  can,  their  influence  in  the  church 


DR.  BADGER'S   ADDRESS.  63 

and  in  the  state,  in  every  profession  and  calling  and  relation 
of  life,  and  you  will  need  no  one  to  tell  you  that  the  founding 
of  a  College  is  a  great  event,  and  that  he  who  moulds  the  in- 
tellects and  hearts  committed  to  him  within  it  into  the  image 
of  the  heavenly — teaches  them  to  think,  and  feel,  and  act  like 
God  —  is  a  privileged  co-worker  with  God,  with  Christ,  with 
the  Divine  Spirit  in  the  exaltation  and  blessedness  of  his 
race. 

I  have  traced  the  history  of  those  who  have  gone  forth  from 
this  Institution  as  clearly  as  I  have  been  able;  and  the  num- 
ber I  have  identified  as  missionaries,  for  a  longer  or  shorter 
period,  in  our  great  Western  field,  is  300.  Fifty  of  these  have 
gone  to  their  reward.  Others  have  been  called  to  different 
portions  of  the  vineyard,  or  to  different  spheres  of  usefulness. 
But  the  great  body  of  them  remain  —  workmen  that  need  not 
to  be  ashamed.  No  man  need  write  their  epitaph.  Their 
works  will  follow  them.  You  find  them  over  all  the  extended 
region  of  the  West,  scattered  along  the  great  thoroughfares 
of  travel,  at  the  centres  of  commercial  intercourse  and  social 
power,  on  the  borders  of  the  lakes,  on  the  bluffs  of  the  rivers 
and  at  their  fountain-heads,  and  on  the  far-off  shores  of  the 
westernmost  sea.  And  there,  when  they  are  dead,  will  the 
institutions  which  their  feeble  hands  in  prayer  and  faith  have 
founded,  remain,  to  bless  their  fellow-countrymen  with  the 
light  of  science  and  the  light  of  everlasting  truth,  while  the 
lakes  reflect  the  image  of  heaven,  while  the  rivers  seek  the  sea, 
while  the  broad  waves  of  the  Pacific  roll  back  upon  its  shores 
their  golden  sands ! 

I  have  glanced  at  some  of  the  things  which  this  Seminary, 
the  first  fifty  years  of  its  existence,  has  had  a  leading  instru- 
mentality in  accomplishing  in  our  Western  country.  May 
they  be  the  years  of  its  infancy !  And  in  its  youth,  in  its 
manhood,  in  the  fulness  of  its  strength,  may  it  fill  the  land, 
and  cover  the  earth  with  the  institutions  of  religion  and  learn- 
ing, and,  by  God's  right  arm  in  which  it  trusts,  people  heaven 
with  multitudes  which  no  man  can  number ! 


64  DR.  BUDINGTON'S   ADDRESS. 

With  the  work  of  Foreign  and  Home  Missions,  to 
which  the  Seminary  has  so  largely  contributed,  the 
memory  of  Dr.  Jedediah  Morse,  of  Charlestown,  who 
was  prominent  in  the  counsels  that  originated  the  Insti- 
tution, and  one  of  its  most  ardent  friends,  has  long  been 
specially  associated  ;  and  Dr.  William  I.  Budington,  one 
of  his  successors  in  the  Pastorate  at  Charlestown,  being 
here  called  upon  to  speak  of  his  character  and  services, 
made  the  ensuing  brief 


ADDRE  S  S. 

For  the  call  you  have  now  made  upon  me,  I  am  indebted 
to  the  fact,  that,  upon  leaving  these  Seminary  walls,  it  was 
my  lot — a  happy  one  I  esteem  it — to  be  ordained  pastor  of 
the  people  among  whom  Dr.  Morse  spent  his  ministry.  My 
personal  recollections  do  not  extend  back  to  him,  except,  in- 
deed, as  I  remember  to  have  seen,  in  my  boyhood,  his  bald  head 
and  venerable  form,  in  the  First  Church,  New  Haven,  where 
he  worshipped  after  leaving  Charlestown.  But  I  can  hardly 
realize  that  this  is  all  I  knew  of  him  personally,  so  deeply  im- 
pressed upon  my  mind  is  his  image  and  character,  from  what 
I  have  heard  of  him  from  those  to  whom  he  ministered,  many 
of  whom  cherish  his  name  with  mingled  gratitude  and  ven- 
eration. He  belonged  to  the  old  school  of  Christian  gentle- 
men, and  was  remarkable,  even  in  his  day,  for  his  urbanity, 
the  courtliness  of  his  manners,  his  public  spirit,  and  the  deep 
interest  he  took  in  the  politics  of  his  day,  in  regard  to  which 
he  maintained  stoutly  the  independence  of  his  pulpit,  and 
sometimes  in  a  way  to  provoke  the  independence  of  the  oc- 
cupants of  the  pew.  Among  his  own  people  he  was  an 
affectionate  pastor,  and  manifested  a  special  interest  in  the 
children  of  his  flock.  His  personal  appearance  was  imposing 
and  attractive.  His  form  was  slender  and  tall,  his  eye  black 
and  piercing,  his  voice  strong  and  musical,  and  his  carriage, 


DR.   BUDINGTON'S   ADDRESS.  65 

both  in  public  and  private,  combined  dignity  and  grace.  Such 
was  his  knowledge  and  proficiency  in  sacred  music,  that  when 
for  any  reason  the  choir  were  silent  or  absent,  he  could  preside 
"  over  the  service  of  song  in  the  house  of  the  Lord." 

Dr.  Morse  was  prominent  among  the  founders  of  this  Sem- 
inary, and  deserves  an  honorable  mention  on  this  occasion. 
He  exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability  to  effect  that 
union  or  compromise  which  is  the  foundation  upon  which 
the  Institution  rests,  and  was  earnest  in  his  efforts  to  secure 
its  establishment  in  this  place.  His  correspondence  shows 
that  he  spent  a  great  amount  of  time  in  his  labors  to  accom- 
plish these  objects  ;  many  were  the  journeys  he  made  through 
cold  easterly  storms  to  and  from  Salem  and  Newburyport, 
and  often  amid  great  weakness  of  body  and  depression  of 
spirits.  But  he  was  at  length  cheered  by  success,  and  great 
was  his  joy.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  letter  of  his,  written  to  Dr. 
Pearson  fifty  years  ago,  bearing  date  Feb.  28,  1808,  which  he 
begins  with  quoting  a  postscript  from  a  letter  he  had  just 
received  from  the  late  Dr.  Woods. 

Saturday,  —  Dr.  S.  has  been  to  Salem.  After  much  rea- 
soning, in  vain,  he  resorted  to  prayers  and  tears.  MR.  N.  HAS 
SIGNED.  The  others  are  ready.  All  will  be  executed  next 
week,  Deo  Volente.  Adieu,  L.  W. 

"  Laus  Deo.  How  faithful  is  the  Lord  to  fulfil  his  promises. 
In  due  time  ye  shall  reap,  if  ye  faint  not.  Hitherto  the 
Lord  hath  helped  us.  In  his  own  way  and  time  he  will  ac- 
complish his  own  purposes  in  this  Institution.  How  honor- 
able to  be  employed  as  instruments  in  laying  the  foundation 
of  such  an  establishment  for  the  advancement  of  his  glory !  I 
ever  believed  that  this  thing  was  of  GOD,  and  that  he  would 
in  due  time  accomplish  it.  The  difficulties  which  we  have 
been  called  to  encounter,  however  painful  and  discouraging 
at  the  time,  have,  I  trust,  made  both  ourselves  and  the  Insti- 
tution better." 

9 


66  DR.  BUDINGTON'S  ADDRESS. 

This  is  an  affecting  illustration,  and  there  are  many  like  it, 
of  the  devout  thankfulness  felt  by  those  venerable  men  in 
1808 ;  and  we  surely  in  18f  8  should  be  grateful,  after  the 
lapse  of  half  a  century  has  illustrated  the  wisdom  of  their 
counsels,  and  made  their  joint  action  the  fruit  of  so  much 
good.     Foremost  among  the  subjects  of  their  congratulations 
was  the  union  of  the  two  theological  parties,  who  would  oth- 
erwise have  built  apart ;  and  this  spirit  of  concession   and 
unity  has  been  an  unspeakable  blessing  to  us,  as  it  will  be  to 
those  who  shall  come  after  us.     They  were   also  wise,  or 
rather  it  was  a  happy  disposition  of  Divine   Providence,  that 
Andover  was   made  the  seat  of  the  Institution  ;  —  a  place 
neither  within  the  limits  of  a  great  city,  nor  yet  so  near  the 
maelstrom  as  to  be  swept  into  the  whirling  vortex,  and  made 
to  revolve  about  another  and  foreign  centre ;  nor  yet  so  far 
away  as  to  be  secluded  and  inaccessible,  but  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  thriving  cities,  and  nearer  now,  in  point  of  time,  than 
in  our  fathers'  days  could  have  been  thought  possible ;   a  po- 
sition eminently  suited  to  the  purposes  of  a  Seminary,  re- 
minding the  student  that  though  not  yet  in  the  midst  of  life, 
he  is  standing  upon  the  threshold  of  its  intensest  life  ;  a  spot, 
too, — this  hill  particularly,  —  singularly  adapted  to  the  wants 
and  habits  of  student  life ;  a  centre  from  which  walks  diverge, 
threading  every  variety  of  rural  scenery,  hill  and  dale,  wood- 
land and  cultivated  fields,  shady  brooks   and  busy  villages ; 
and  then  from  this  hill,  and  from  those  western  windows,  who 
shall  describe  the  glories  of  an  Andover  sunset,  as  we  have 
seen  the  sun  go  down  amid  splendors  less  of  earth  than  of 
heaven,   and  of  which,  at  least  as  beheld  from  this  hill  of 
sacred  science,  there  would  seem  to  be  no  adequate  interpre- 
ter but  the  revelations  of  the  Gospel !     How  many  who  have 
gazed  at  these  evening  skies  till  they  thought  they  saw  in 
them  "  the  morning  gates  "  of  heaven,  have  gone  down,  for  a 
life-long  labor,  into  the  deep  darkness  of  Heathenism,  to  the 
living  entombment  of  a  life  in  the  great  cities  of  India  or 
China,  and  carried  with  them  conceptions  of  the  Apocalyptic 


DR.  BUDINGTON'S   ADDRESS.  67 

glories,  to  which  such  sceneries  have  ministered  not  less  than 
the  instructions  of  the  lecture-room,  and  have  themselves 
accomplished  a  decease  scarcely  less  splendid  —  their  sun 
going  down  amid  the  radiance  of  a  brighter  rising  in  heaven  ! 

Dr.  Morse  warmly  recommended  the  establishment  of  the 
Seminary  in  Andover;  his  son  proposed  a  plan  for  the  embel- 
lishment of  these  grounds,  and  that  eminent  man,  whose 
genius  has  adorned  his  country,  and  who  has  devised  a  path 
for  the  lightning  to  travel,  may  yet  find  the  sketch  he  furnished 
in  his  youth  followed  in  the  arrangement  of  these  walks.  Dr. 
Morse  was  a  man  of  enterprise  and  progress  ;  it  was  not  left 
for  him  to  follow  in  paths  struck  out  by  others,  but  he  had 
the  insight  to  plan  and  the  boldness  to  execute  new  designs 
in  literature  and  benevolence,  as  the  production  of  the  ear- 
liest American  Geography  and  the  first  religious  newspaper 
attest.  And  even  while  I  am  now  speaking  his  son  is  en- 
gaged in  laying  the  Electric  Cable,  beneath  the  tempests,  on 
the  floor  of  the  Atlantic,  —  a  beginning  which  is  speedily  to 
convert  what  was  once  the  wildest  freak  of  poetic  fancy  into 
fact,  the  putting  a  girdle  round  the  earth.  God  grant  success 
to  this  great  effort  of  science  and  civilization,  upon  which  the 
eyes  of  two  continents  are  gazing  ! 

The  life  of  Dr.  Morse,  like  that  of  many  an  humble  New 
England  pastor,  teaches  lessons  of  especial  encouragement  to 
clergymen.  It  says  to  every  laborer  in  the  vineyard  of  our 
common  Lord,  despise  not  the  day  of  small  things.  Behold 
what  results  to  America  and  the  world  have  followed  the 
self-denying  and  persevering  labors  of  the  men  whose  mem- 
ories and  work  we  this  day  commemorate !  Fifty  years  ago 
who  could  have  foreseen  what  we  see  to-day,  or  would  have 
dared  anticipate  what  is  now  realized  and  forever  stereotyped 
in  history  ?  Let  me  say  to  the  undergraduates,  and  the  more 
youthful  pastors  whom  I  address,  the  day  of  wonders  has  not 
passed,  it  has  but  just  begun.  The  Iowa  band  that  went  out 
from  this  Institution  a  few  years  ago,  have  already  taken  rank 
among  founders  and  history  makers ;  they  have  not  only  laid 


68  DR.  BUDINGTON'S   ADDRESS. 

the  foundation  of  a  magnificent  future  in  the  West — they  be- 
hold, while  still  young,  the  rising  structure.  And  who  shall 
tell  what  seeds  may,  even  now,  be  lying  obscurely  in  the 
minds  of  these  young  men  or  these  more  youthful  pastors, 
which  in  the  next  fifty  years  shall  strike  root,  and  bear  a 
wealth  of  fruitage,  we  now  as  little  anticipate,  as  did  the 
founders  of  1808  what  this  first  half  century  of  their 
Institution  has  produced  ?  And  what  a  lesson  of  digni- 
fying encouragement  for  all  our  pastors,  laboring  in  their 
unnoticed  way,  teaching  them  that  what  they  do  in  the 
cause  of  Christ,  though  with  feebleness  and  amid  disheart- 
ening difficulties,  shall  not  be  in  vain  in  the  Lord !  God 
will  ripen  over  their  graves,  and  from  the  roots  of  their 
buried  labors,  a  harvest  of  which  they  cannot  now  conceive, 
but  the  faith  of  which  should  brighten  their  spirits  and  nerve 
their  efforts.  Who  shall  say  there  is  not  now  playing  around 
the  parsonage  of  some  New  England  village,  as  there  was 
around  that  of  Charlestown,  some  bright-eyed  boy  of  genius, 
who,  fifty  years  hence,  shall  inaugurate  a  new  era  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  lift  up  the  race,  amid  bursting  plaudits,  to  a  higher 
platform  of  power  and  progress  ! 

This  deeply  interesting  meeting,  which  all  seemed 
anxious  to  prolong,  was  closed  with  prayer  by  Rev.  Dr. 
Blagclen,  of  Boston,  and  the  Doxology  — 

Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow ! 
Praise  Him,  all  creatures  here  below ! 
Praise  Him  above,  ye  heavenly  host ! 
Praise  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost ! 


COMMEMORATIVE   DISCOURSE.  69 


PROCESSION. 

On  Thursday,  morning  prayers  at  the  Chapel  were 
attended  by  large  numbers  of  the  Alumni,  as  they  had 
been  on  Wednesday,  and  were  continued  as  a  social 
conference  with  great  interest  for  the  half  hour  as- 
signed to  the  exercise. 

The  storm  of  the  preceding  day  and  night  having 
subsided  sufficiently  to  allow  the  intended  procession,  it 
was  formed  at  half-past  eight  o'clock,  and  moved  from 
the  Mansion  House  to  the  South  Church,  where  the 
Commemorative  Discourse  was  to  be  pronounced. 

When  the  audience  had  fully  assembled,  the  scene 
which  it  presented  was  in  the  highest  degree  exciting 
and  august.  The  sun  suddenly  broke  through  the 
clouds,  shining  out  in  full  splendor,  and  giving  a  new 
aspect  of  joyousness  to  all.  The  spacious  old  edifice 
was  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity.  Large  numbers, 
unable  to  obtain  seats,  were  standing  in  the  aisles  and 
porches,  while  many  others  flocking  to  the  place  still 
were  seeking  in  vain  to  enter ;  yet  it  was  the  striking 
dignity  of  the  assembly,  rather  than  its  numbers,  which 
especially  impressed  the  beholder.  The  very  counte- 
nances of  so  many  hundreds  of  brethren  and  fathers  in 
Christ,  associated  with  the  thought  of  their  history  and 
of  their  filial  interest  in  the  occasion,  seemed  the  best 
possible  index  of  the  work  which  the  Seminary  had 
helped  to  accomplish  for  the  Churches ;  nor  could  one 
easily  repress  an  involuntary  apprehension  for  the  mo- 
ment, lest  all  the  eloquent  words  of  the  day  should  fail 
as  fitly  to  depict  the  spirit  and  scope  of  that  work. 


70        COMMEMORATIVE  DISCOURSE. 

After  an  Anthem  by  the  Lockhart  Society,  prayer  was 
offered  by  Dr.  Ralph  Emerson,  of  Newburyport,  for 
many  years  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  in  the 
Seminary,  and  the  whole  assembly  united  in  singing  a 
Hymn  to  the  stirring  tune  of  Coronation,  when  the 
Orator,  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  de- 
livered the  following 


COMMEMORATIVE   DISCOURSE. 

IN  rising  to  address  this  assembly,  I  am  embarrassed 
by  the  thought,  present  to  many  minds  as  well  as  my 
own,  that  another  ought  to  have  performed  the  service 
that  has  been  assigned  to  me.  There  is  no  need  of 
saying  who  it  is  to  whom,  not  only  by  virtue  of  his 
official  relation  to  the  Seminary,  but  by  virtue  of  those 
gifts  of  knowledge  and  of  utterance  which  so  conspic- 
uously qualify  him  for  his  station,  this  arduous  service 
properly  belongs.  But  I  have  a  right  to  say,  for  my 
own  vindication,  that  the  importunity  which  urged  me 
to  accept  the  invitation  of  the  Joint  Committee  under 
whose  arrangements  this  commemoration  takes  place, 
was  ineffectual,  till  I  had  received  conclusive  informa- 
tion that,  for  reasons  which  had  weight  with  the  Com- 
mittee as  well  as  with  himself,  the  professor  whose  rela- 
tions to  the  Seminary  have  been  so  intimate  for  two 
and  twenty  years,  and  who  has  personally  instructed  a 
majority  of  the  living  alumni,  would  in  no  event  accept 
the  task  to  which  his  designation  seemed  so  obvious. 

The  history  of  this  Theological  Seminary  cannot  be 
given  in  any  one  discourse  on  such  an  occasion  as  this. 


COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE.  71 

I  have  no  time,  —  nor  would  you,  in  hearing  me,  have 
patience,  —  for  those  details  which  are  the  life  of  his- 
tory. Some  general  views,  first,  of  that  foregoing  state 
of  things  in  New  England,  which  led  to  the  founding 
of  this  Seminary,  and  then,  of  those  changes  in  which 
the  influence  of  this  Institution  has  been  potent,  will  be 
more  than  sufficient  for  the  passing  hour,  and  may  fitly 
introduce  and  accompany  those  personal  reminiscences 
which  will  naturally  be  the  charm  of  the  occasion,  and 
its  chief  contribution  to  the  history  of  our  Institution. 

Fifty  years  ago,  the  time  had  arrived  when  the 
churches  of  New  England  were  in  many  respects  ripe 
for  a  new  era  of  progress,  and  of  slow  but  salutary 
revolution.  Such  an  era,  if  I  read  our  history  aright, 
may  be  regarded  as  having  its  commencement  in  the 
event  this  day  commemorated.  The  founding  of  this 
Theological  Seminary  introduced  a  new  system  of  edu- 
cation for  the  ministry  in  our  churches.  It  inaugurated 
the  principle  of  concession  and  cooperation  between 
theological  parties  or  schools  previously  alienated  by 
mutual  jealousy.  It  set  .up  an  effectual  break-water 
against  the  incoming  tides  of  rationalism  and  natural- 
ism, that  were  undermining  our  ancient  foundations. 
It  opened  the  way  for  the  multiplied  undertakings  of 
that  large-minded  evangelism,  of  which  it  was  itself  so 
early  and  awakening  a  manifestation,  —  an  evangelism 
which  is  the  grand  distinction  of  this  nineteenth  Chris- 
tian century,  and  which  is  already  encircling  the  globe, 
not  only  with  its  projects,  but  with  its  efforts  and 
achievements. 

To  some  it  may  seem,  at  first  thought,  a  strange 
inconsistency  in  our  ecclesiastical  history,  that  in  al- 


72       COMMEMORATIVE   DISCOURSE. 

most  two  hundred  years  after  the  colonization  of  New 
England,  no  institution  had  been  endowed  or  attempted 
among  us,  for  the  professional  study  of  theology.  How 
happened  it  that  the  men  by  whose  zeal  for  learning 
colleges  were  founded  while  New  England  was  a  wild- 
erness, did  not  see,  as  we  see,  that  a  liberal  education, 
such  as  colleges  give,  is  only  introductory  to  that  spe- 
cial training  in  the  science  and  learning  of  theology 
which  every  man  needs  who  is  to  labor  in  the  ex- 
position of  God's  word  ?  We  need  only  recollect  what 
the  colleges  were  which  the  fathers  of  New  England 
founded,  and  what  the  education  was  for  which  those 
colleges  were  designed,  and  the  seeming  inconsistency 
disappears.  They  did  not  attempt  to  found  a  univer- 
sity, but  only  a  college,  —  first  at  Cambridge,  and  after- 
wards another  at  New  Haven.  Probably  they  hoped 
that,  in  the  progress  of  time,  the  town  in  which  they 
set  up  their  humble  institution  would  become  like  the 
Leyden  and  Utrecht,  with  which  some  of  them  were  so 
well  acquainted,  a  university  town,  full  of  students  and 
professors  in  the  various  faculties  of  theology,  law, 
medicine  and  the  arts ;  but  the  institution  which  they 
founded  was  simply  a  college  with  fellows  and  tutors,  and 
that  college  was  essentially,  in  fact  and  in  design,  a  theo- 
logical seminary.  The  education  of  candidates  for  the 
ministry  was  not  indeed  the  exclusive  aim  of  Harvard 
College,  or  of  Yale,  —  there  was  also  the  hope  of  train- 
ing men  for  usefulness  in  civil  offices  and  affairs,  —  but 
the  system  of  education  gave  to  theology  the  place  of 
honor  above  all  other  sciences.  It  was  assumed  that 
the  same  studies,  in  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew,  (the  Bi- 
ble being  the  chief  text  book  for  exercises  in  all  those 


COMMEMORATIVE  DISCOURSE.       73 

ancient  tongues,)  in  logic  and  rhetoric,  in  the  physics 
and  metaphysics  of  that  day,  and  finally,  and  chiefly, 
in  theology  and  ethics,  by  which  some  were  to  be 
trained  for  office  in  the  churches,  —  would  at  the  same 
time  sufficiently  train  as  many  as  might  be  required 
for  places  of  magistracy  in  the  civil  commonwealth. 
The  first  pastors  of  New  England  had  been  educated 
for  the  ministry  in  just  such  colleges  at  Oxford  and  the 
English  Cambridge,  and  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  a 
young  man  trained  in  such  a  college,  —  if  he  felt  an 
inward  vocation  to  the  ministry,  and  was  adequately 
endowed  with  the  gifts  of  nature  and  of  grace,  —  might 
properly  enough  begin  to  preach.  About  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  proposal  was  first 
definitely  made,  that  there  should  be  a  formal  exam- 
ination and  approbation  (or  what  is  now  called  a 
licensure)  of  candidates  for  the  ministry  by  at  least 
four  or  five  pastors,  who,  if  satisfied  with  his  qualifier 
tions,  should  subscribe  their  names  to  a  testimonial  of 
their  approbation.  But  even  in  that  proposal,  which 
slowly  grew  into  an  ecclesiastical  custom,  it  was  not 
supposed  that  the  candidate  would  be  expected  to  have 
pursued  some  extended  course  of  professional  studies 
after  leaving  college.  The  only  suggestion  for  his 
examination  in  studies  distinctly  theological  was,  "  He 
shall  be  examined  what  authors  in  theology  he  has 
read ;  and  he  shall  particularly  make  it  evident  that  he 
has  considerately  read  Ames's  Medulla  Theologice,  or 
some  other  generally  allowed  body  of  divinity.1 

Doubtless  it  must  have  been  a  common  thing,  even 
in  the  earliest  times  of  our  ecclesiastical  history,  for 

1  Mather  Rat.  Dis.  120 

10 


74  C  0  M  M  E  M  0  11  A  T  I  V  E      DISCOU11SE. 

one  who  would  devote  himself  to  the  service  of  Christ 
as  a  preacher,  to  serve  a  sort  of  apprenticeship  to  that 
work  with  some  experienced  and  skilful  pastor.  Even 
when  John  Cotton  was  rector  of  St.  Botolph's,  in  the 
Lincolnshire  Boston,  the  eminent  Dr.  Preston,  master 
of  that  great  nursery  of  Puritanism,  Emanuel  College, 
habitually  "  advised  his  new-fledged  pupils  to  go  live 
with  Mr.  Cotton,  that  they  might  be  fitted  for  public 
service."  Nothing  is  more  likely  than  that  after 
Mr.  Cotton  had  come  to  our  New  England  Boston, 
some  "  new-lleclged  pupils  "  of  the  New  England  Cam- 
bridge might  in  like  manner  seek  to  "be  fitted  for 
public  service,"  by  putting  themselves  where  they 
could  hear  his  Lord's  day  preaching,  and  his  Thursday 
lectures,  and  where  they  could  have  the  benefit  of 
some  personal  intercourse  with  him.  Nothing  is  more 
likely  than  that  some  graduates  of  Harvard,  having  the 
ministry  in  view,  might  resort  in  like  manner  to  Nor- 
ton, at  Ipswich,  to  Hooker  and  Stone,  at  Hartford,  to 
Davenport,  at  New  Haven,  or  to  some  other  pastor  of 
acknowledged  eminence  in  gifts  and  learning.  Yet  it 
is  to  be  observed,  that  of  those  New  England  ministers 
whose  lives  have  been  so  industriously  recorded  in  the 
Annals  of  the  American  pulpit,  not  one,  prior  to  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  can  be  unequivocally  identi- 
fied as  having  studied  theology,  in  any  professed  or 
formal  manner,  under  any  teacher,  after  leaving  col- 
lege, and  before  beginning  to  preach.  The  reason  is, 
that  theology  was  then  one  of  the  studies  at  college,  — 
the  study  to  which  all  other  studies  were  as  completely 
subordinate  there,  as  all  other  studies  are  subordinate 
to  theology  here ;  and  the  young  aspirant,  after  recciv- 


COMMEMORATIVE   DISCOURSE.        75 

ing  his  degree,  needed  only  a  little  time,  for  some  addi- 
tional reading,  perhaps,  and  for  the  preparation  of  a 
few  sermons,  before  beginning  to  make  trial  of  his  gifts 
in  public. 

The  first  distinct  appearance  of  a  tendency  towards 
a  professional  study  of  theology,  in  addition  to  the  col- 
lege study  of  it,  is  in  connection  with  what  was  called 
"  the  new  Divinity,"  and  with  the  great  awakening.  It 
is  said  that  Joseph  Bellamy  studied  theology  under 
Edwards,  at  Northampton,  but  the  evidence  does  not 
show  that  he  ever  went  to  Northampton  till  after  he 
had  been  regularly  approbated  by  the  New  Haven 
Association,  when  he  was  only  eighteen  years  of  age. 
In  like  manner  Samuel  Buell,  afterwards  the  great 
new  school  Presbyterian  divine  of  Long  Island,  wTent 
to  Northampton,  having  already  "  commenced  a  zealous 
preacher,"  and  trained  himself  for  his  bright  career,  not 
by  studying  under  Edwards,  but  by  active  service  in 
Edwards's  parish  when  the  pastor  was  away  in  the 
work  of  an  evangelist.  Samuel  Hopkins,  while  he  was 
yet  an  under-graduate  at  New  Haven,  seems  to  have 
felt  that  he  must  learn  theology  somewhere  else  than 
there,  and  in  some  other  fashion,  before  he  could  begin 
to  preach.  He  had  heard  the  rude  and  enthusiastic 
eloquence  of  Gilbert  Tennent,  and  he  says,  "  I  thought 
he  was  the  greatest  and  best  man,  and  the  best  preacher 
that  I  had  ever  seen  or  heard.  And  I  then  thought 
that  when  I  should  leave  the  college,  as  I  was  then  in 
my  last  year,  I  would  go  and  live  with  him,  wherever 
I  should,  find  him."  But  at  the  commencement  at 
which  he  was  to  receive  his  degree,  he  found  reason  to 
change  his  plan  of  preparation  for  the  ministry.  He 


76  COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE. 

had  the  opportunity  of  hearing  "  Mr.  Edwards,  of 
Northampton"  preach,  in  the  New  Haven  meeting- 
house, that  discourse  which  appears  in  his  collected 
works  with  the  title,  "  The  Distinguishing  Marks  of  the 
Work  of  the  Spirit  of  God."  He  tells  us  in  his  simple 
way.  "  Though  I  then  did  not  obtain  any  personal  ac- 
quaintance with  him,  any  further  than  by  hearing  him 
preach,  yet  I  conceived  such  an  esteem  of  him,  and  was 
so  pleased  with  his  preaching,  that  I  altered  my  former 
determination  with  respect  to  Mr.  Tennent,  and  con- 
cluded to  go  and  live  with  Mr.  Edwards,  as  soon  as  I 
should  have  opportunity."  Accordingly,  in  the  De- 
cember following,  " being  furnished  with  a  horse, etc." 
(the  etc.  including  of  course  whatever  was  in  those 
times  deemed  necessary  to  so  bold  an  enterprise,)  he 
"  set  out  for  Northampton,  with  a  view  to  live  with  Mr. 
Edwards ;  where,"  says  he,  "  I  was  an  utter  stranger." 
His  idea,  evidently,  was  not  so  much  that  he  was  to 
study  under  Mr.  Edwards,  as  that  he  was  to  "live 
with  "  him,  —  not  so  much  that  he  was  to  have  the  in- 
tellectual benefit  of  Mr.  Edwards's  instructions  in  the 
capacity  of  a  theological  teacher,  as  that  he  was  to  have 
the  spiritual  and  practical  benefit  of  Mr.  Edwards's  ex- 
ample in  the  work  of  preaching  the  gospel  and  of  pro- 
moting the  salvation  of  souls.  When  he  arrived,  (in 
December)  Mr.  Edwards  was  absent  on  a  preaching 
tour.  Before  the  close  of  January  Mr.  Edwards  went 
away  again,  to  preach  where  he  was  specially  called 
for  in  that  time  of  awakening ;  and  then  it  was  that 
Hopkins's  college  classmate,  Buell,  came  and  began  to 
preach ;  and  after  a  week  or  two  of  preaching  in 
Northampton,  he  proceeded  toward  Boston,  preaching 


COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE.  77 

as  he  went,  and  Hopkins  with  him.  Some  two  weeks 
were  spent  in  this  way,  which  brings  us  toward  the 
end  of  February.  "In  the  latter  end  of  March,"  this 
theological  student,  as  some  suppose  him  to  have  been, 
left  Northampton,  "  with  a  view  to  obtain  a  license  to 
preach."  He  spends  a  month  at  his  father's  house  in 
Waterbury,  and  obtains  his  license  on  the  29th  of 
April.  Then  he  tells  us,  "  After  I  had  preached  a  few 
times  at  my  native  place,  and  places  adjacent,  occasion- 
ally, I  returned  to  Northampton,  proposing  to  spend 
some  time  in  pursuing  my  studies  with  Mr.  Edwards,  — 
where  I  lived  during  the  summer,  preaching  sometimes 
in  Mr.  Edwards's  pulpit,  and  to  private  meetings,  and 
sometimes  rode  out  to  neighboring  towns  and  preached, 
-  for  which  I  neither  demanded  nor  received  any  pay, 
except  forty  shillings,  old  tenor,  [about  $2.50]  for 
preaching  one  Sabbath  at  Westfield,  which  was  given 
without  any  demand  or  expectation  from  me."  * 

All  this  is  significant  in  two  respects.  First,  it  shows 
us  in  what  manner  candidates  for  the  ministry  were 
ordinarily  introduced  to  the  function  of  preaching,  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  years  ago,  when  Hopkins  was  a 
young  graduate  from  college ;  —  and  secondly,  it  shows 
us  how  those  private  theological  schools  which  existed 
in  New  England  before  the  founding  of  this  Seminar}^ 
came  into  fashion.  What  is  now  called  the  licensing 
of  candidates  by  associations  of  pastors,  had  already  be- 
come an  established  custom,  especially  in  Connecticut ; 
but  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  examination  for  a 
license  to  preach  had  reference  to  any  curriculum  of 
theological  study  other  than  what  was  included  in  a 

*  Park's  Memoir  of  Hopkins,  pp.  13 — 24. 


78  COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE. 

college  education.  Where  had  Buell  studied  theology, 
when  he  received  his  license  one  month  after  his  grad- 
uation as  Bachelor  of  Arts?  How  much  theology, 
beyond  what  was  taught  in  college,  could  Hopkins 
pretend  to  have  studied,  when  he  applied  to  the  Asso- 
ciation for  a  license  ?  Hopkins,  as  soon  as  he  left  col- 
lege, went  to  live  with  Mr.  Edwards,  with  just  the  same 
view  with  which  Dr.  Preston  of  Immanuel  College  ad- 
vised his  "  new-fledged  "  students  "  to  go  live  with  Mr. 
Cotton,  that  they  might  be  fitted  for  public  service." 
But  after  he  had  been  licensed,  and  had  begun  to 
preach  the  few  sermons  which  he  had  prepared  in  the  less 
than  three  months  of  his  residence  in  the  parish  and  in 
the  family  of  the  admired  and  honored  Mr.  Edwards, 
we  find  him  "  proposing  to  spend  some  time  in  pursuing 
[his]  studies  with  Mr.  Edwards."  We  find  him  living  in 
that  privileged  relation  for  three  months,  while  his 
preaching  is  evidently  subordinate  to  his  studying. 
That  second  residence  of  his  at  Northampton  was  not 
for  the  mere  sake  of  serving  a  parochial  apprenticeship, 
or  of  becoming  more  familiar  with  the  routine  of  pas- 
toral duties,  or  of  hearing  habitually  such  sermons  as 
that  on  "the  trial  of  the  Spirits,"  but  to  pursue  his 
studies  under  the  guidance  of  the  foremost  theologian 
of  the  age.  Evidently  he  believed  that  Mr.  Edwards 
could  teach  him  something  in  theology  beyond  the 
common  places  of  the  accepted  system.  Evidently  he 
had  some  indistinct  hankering  after  "new  divinity." 
So  strong  was  his  tendency  in  this  direction  that  we 
find  him,  a  year  afterwards,  attempting  to  renew  his 
studies  once  more  at  the  feet  of  his  Gamaliel.  I  can- 
not find  that  there  was  anything  like  a  divinity  school 


COMMEMORATIVE  DISCOURSE.        79 

under  Edwards  at  Northampton,  or  at  Stockb ridge  ;  but 
in  this  feeling  on  the  part  of  Hopkins,  and  doubtless  of 
others  like  him,  we  may  see,  if  I  mistake  not,  the  earli- 
est germ  of  those  private  schools  for  theological  instruc- 
tion, in  which    so   large    a   number  of  the    orthodox 
divines  of  New  England  were  taught  after  the  period 
of  the  great  awakening.     When  Bellamy  began  to  re- 
ceive pupils,  as  in  a  theological  boarding  school,  at  his 
house  in  Bethlem,  and  to  conduct  them  through  a  sys- 
tematic course  of  questions  and  discussions  in  theology, 
that  so  they  might  be  prepared  to   "  come  out "    as 
preachers,  he  introduced  a  new  element  into  our  ecclesi- 
astical and  religious  history.    The  young  men  who,  after 
leaving  college,  resorted  to  him,  that  they  might  study 
divinity  under  his  instruction,  did  so  with  a  feeling  like 
that  which  brought  Hopkins  the  second  time  to  North- 
ampton.     They  felt  that  the  secret  of  Bellamy's  power 
as  a  preacher   was,  partly   at   least,  in   his   theology. 
They  thought  that  under  his  guidance  they  would  learn 
more  than  Amesius  and  Wollebius  could  teach  them,  — 
more  than  they  could  learn  from  the  Westminster  Cat- 
echism, even  when  translated  into  the  learned  tongues, 
—  more  than  they  could  learn  from  any  solitary  read- 
ing of  Calvin's  Institutes,  or  Willard's  Body  of  Divinity. 
From  that  time  we  may  date  the  distinct  development 
and  progress  of  a  New  England  theology.     Edwards  at 
Stockbridge,  Hopkins  at  Great  Barrington,  and  Bellamy 
at  Bethlem,  were  in  habits  of  intercourse  as  constant  as 
the  opportunities  and  means  of  locomotion  in  that  age 
permitted.     Theology,  or   the  science  of  religion,  as 
they  held  it  and  defended  it,  was  not  a  traditionary 
system,  completed  and  perfected  long  ago ;  it  was  their 


80  COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE. 

own  free  and  earnest  thinking  on  the  themes  of  God's 
revelation  to  mankind,  —  their  own  reverent  and  be- 
lieving study  of  the  Scriptures,  —  their  own  analysis 
and  system  of  those  great  doctrines  which  the  church 
in  all  ages  has  derived  with  various  degrees  of  log- 
ical accuracy  from  the  record  of  inspiration,  —  their 
own  solution  of  those  profound  questions  which  the 
human  mind,  employing  itself  upon  the  things  of 
God  and  of  the  relations  between  God  and  man, 
always  encounters.  Under  them,  and  chiefly  under 
Bellamy,  in  his  family  theological  seminary,  disci- 
ples of  the  New  Divinity  were  trained  to  be  the 
lights  of  a  succeeding  generation.  After  Bellamy, 
such  men  as  Smalley,  at  New  Britain,  Hart,  at  Preston, 
West,  at  Stockbridge,  Ernmons,  at  Franklin,  Backus,  at 
Somers,  and  Hooker,  at  Goshen,  may  be  regarded  as 
having  introduced  and  established  in  New  England  the 
professional  study  of  theology  under  special  teachers, 
as  a  preparation  for  the  ministry. 

Parallel  with  the  development  of  these  tendencies 
toward  a  special  and  professional  institution  for  the 
study  of  theology,  was  the  progress  of  a  change  in  col- 
lege education.  Just  about  the  time  of  the  great 
awakening,  there  began  a  slow  but  thorough  revolution 
in  the  course  and  method  of  college  studies.  First,  the 
mathematical  sciences,  and  particularly  astronomy,  re- 
ceived additional  attention,  at  the  expense  in  part  of 
the  old  logic  and  metaphysics,  in  which  the  old  theol- 
ogy so  much  delighted.  Then  classical  literature  began 
to  be  more  cultivated  for  its  liberalizing  and  refining 
influence ;  and  the  capabilities  of  the  English  language, 
for  eloquence  and  poetry,  and  for  all  the  uses  of  science, 


COMMEMORATIVE  DISCOURSE.        81 

began  to  be  better  appreciated;  while  the  mediaeval 
Latin  of  the  old  logic,  and  the  old  theology,  fell  into 
desuetude.  Soon  afterwards  the  marvellous  achieve- 
ments of  modern  science  exploring  in  every  direction  the 
secrets  of  material  nature,  began  to  produce  their  effect 
upon  the  methods  of  education.  Thus  by  slow  degrees, 
theology  and  the  sciences  more  immediately  related  to 
theology  by  traditional  association,  lost  that  position  of 
eminence  among  college  studies  which  was  originally 
assigned  to  them.  A  little  natural  theology  to  prove 
the  being  of  God,  a  few  lessons  on  the  evidences  of 
Christianity,  and  a  little  moral  philosophy,  are  as  much 
as  there  is  room  for  in  the  modern  system  of  liberal 
education.  Even  in  orthodox  colleges  it  seems  to  be 
conceded  that  studies  in  any  positive  theology  are  im- 
pertinent to  the  culture  of  a  Christian  gentleman ;  and 
not  only  is  the  Hebrew  language  considered  as  belong- 
ing to  a  professional  study  of  theology,  but  even  the 
Greek  Testament  is  almost  excluded  from  the  colleges, 
because  its  idioms  are  not  sufficiently  elegant  for  the 
standard  of  liberal  scholarship.  Within  little  more  than 
a  hundred  years  past,  the  colleges  have  ceased  to  be  the 
theological  seminaries  which  they  once  were,  and  have 
become  exclusively  and  merely  seats  of  liberal  educa- 
tion. Such  a  change,  —  and  it  was  almost  completed 
fifty  years  ago,  —  involved  the  necessity  of  a  new  col- 
lege, devoted  to  the  teaching  of  theology  and  the  theo- 
logical sciences,  imless  the  original  design  of  the  fathers 
who  founded  Harvard  and  Yale  in  the  wilderness,  was 
to  be  relinquished. 

But  by  whom  should  such  a  movement  be  made? 
There  were  many  reasons  why  the  Divinity  College, 

11 


82  COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE. 

for  which  the  time  had  come,  should  be  founded  some- 
where near  the  old  metropolis  of  Puritanism ;  but,  in 
this  part  of  New  England,  especially,  "  the  Orthodox," 
as  they  have  since  been  denominated,  were  divided  by 
lines  which  had  already  been  effaced  wherever  the  New 
Divinity  had  predominated.  In  Massachusetts,  and 
chiefly  in  that  part  of  Massachusetts  this  side  of  Con- 
necticut river,  there  were  many  pastors  and  churches, 
who  held  devoutly  what  they  recognized  as  "  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Reformation  "  —  the  doctrines  which  the 
founders  of  Phillips  Academy,  eighty  years  ago,  in- 
corporated into  the  statutes  of  their  institution;  but 
who,  if  they  had  learned  to  honor  the  elder  Edwards, 
had  never  consciously  accepted  any  of  the  improve- 
ments, or  supposed  improvements,  in  theology,  which 
had  been  wrought  out  by  his  successors.  If  they 
called  themselves  Calvinists,  what  they  meant  was 
that  they  were  not  Hopkinsians.  If  they  were  of 
the  Old  School  in  theology,  they  were  so  by  virtue 
of  their  opposition  to  the  New  Divinity.  Their  old 
Calvinism  was  far  from  being  ^t?0r-Calvinism ;  nor 
was  it  of  that  sort  which  frightens  itself  with  an 
imaginary  "ghost  of  Semipelagius. "  Indeed  there 
was  very  little  of  Scottish  acrimony  in  its  temper. 
Without  any  disrespect  to  their  memory,  I  may  say 
that  their  Calvinism  was  of  a  mitigated  type,  com- 
pared with  the  Calvinism  of  Hopkins,  or  with  that 
of  Whitefield  and  Toplady  —  not  to  mention  such 
divines  as  Crisp  and  Gill.  They  were  admirers  of 
Baxter  and  Doddridge,  more  than  of  those  to  whom 
Baxter  and  Doddridge  are  of  suspected  orthodoxy. 
In  the  eyes  of  the  "new  Calvinists,"  as  their  Hop- 


COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE.  83 

kinsian  opponents  were  sometimes  called,  they  were 
not  much  better  than  "old  Arminians."  Probably 
nobody  could  fairly  charge  them  with  preaching  or 
holding  that  doctrine  of  a  limited  atonement,  which 
is  a  grand  distinction  of  what  is  now  called  Old  School 
Calvinism.  If  they  stumbled  on  the  shibboleth  of 
the  distinction  between  natural  and  moral  inability, 
they  nevertheless  believed  that  an  unregenerate  man, 
however  dependent,  can  do  something  toward  accept- 
ing the  grace  which  the  gospel  offers  him.  One  of 
them  helps  us  to  understand  what  sort  of  a  Calvinist 
he  was,  by  the  gentle  and  polished  sarcasm  of  the 
sentence  in  which  he  recognizes  the  eminence  of  Hop- 
kins as  a  theologian:  —  "He  was  an  eminent  divine, 
distinguished  chiefly  by  deducing  from  certain  doc- 
trines of  the  Keformation,  consequences  which  the  Ee- 
formed  Churches  had  never  admitted  to  be  deducible 
from  them."1  Their  intellectual  and  theological  de- 
scent from  Calvin  was  not  in  the  line  of  Scottish  Cove- 
nanters, or  of  Low  Dutch  metaphysicians,  but  in  the 
line  of  such  New  England  divines  as  President  Stiles 
and  President  Holyoke,  and  the  Hollis  Professors  of  Di- 
vinity in  Harvard  College.  The  position  in  our  theo- 
logical and  religious  history,  which  belongs  to  those  anti- 
Hopkinsian  or  moderate  Calvinists  of  fifty  and  a  hun- 
dred years  ago,  is  an  honorable  one.  They  were  the 
conservative  men  in  that  day  of  peril  —  for  that  was 
indeed  a  day  of  peril,  as  well  as  of  change.  In  such 
a  day  it  was  their  vocation  "to  stand  upon  the  old 
paths,"  protesting  —  as  all  such  men  in  every  age  of 

1  Holmes,  Am.  Annals,  ii.  427. 


84  COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE. 

progress  must  needs  protest  — "  against  right-hand 
extremes  and  left-hand  way-slidings."  They  stood  for 
the  old  forms  of  truth  not  merely  because  they  loved 
what  was  old,  but  because  they  loved  the  truth  which, 
under  those  forms,  had  wrought  its  effect  upon  their 
souls.  They  were  afraid  of  excesses ;  and  they  verily 
thought  —  nor  without  reason  —  that  the  high  specu- 
lations and  unflinching  deductions  of  the  "New  Di- 
vinity "  would  needlessly  stimulate  the  natural  repug- 
nance of  men's  hearts  against  the  doctrines  of  grace. 
As  a  body,  they  had,  in  several  respects,  the  advantage 
of  the  progressives.  They  had  more  men  of  eminent 
and  various  learning,  more  men  of  superior  refine- 
ment, and  more  of  the  influence  which  belongs  to 
personal  dignity  and  to  position  in  society.  And  what 
gave  them,  perhaps,  still  greater  strength,  was  their 
relation  to  the  old  aristocratic  influences  that  still 
clustered  about  the  venerable  metropolis  of  New  Eng- 
land. 

It  was  by  men  of  this  description  that  Phillips 
Academy  was  founded  eighty  years  ago.  On  this 
spot,  amid  the  excitements  and  conflicts  of  the  revo- 
lutionary war,  an  institution  was  set  up  which,  by  the 
blessing  of  God  on  the  princely  munificence  of  the 
one  family  to  whose  name  it  gives  a  more  than 
princely  honor,  and  on  the  sagacious  and  parental 
love  which  continually  watched  over  it,  soon  became 
second  only  to  Harvard  College,  among  the  institutions 
of  education  in  this  ancient  Commonwealth.  That 
venerable  man  from  whose  mind,  capacious  and  inven. 
tive  of  liberal  devices,  the  whole  plan  proceeded, 
lived  and  died  before  the  distinct  development  of 


COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE.  85 

Unitarianism  in  New  England ;  but  with  a  sort  of 
prophetic  instinct  he  incorporated  into  the  statutes 
of  his  institution  not  only  the  declaration  that  "  the 
first  and  principal  object"  of  it  is  uthe  promotion  of 
true  piety  and  virtue,"  and  the  hope  that  "many  of 
the  students "  in  it  would  be  "  devoted  to  the  sacred 
work  of  the  ministry,"  but  a  distinct  provision  that 
so  far  as  it  should  have  influence,  that  influence  should 
be  directed  to  "  cultivate,  establish,  and  perpetuate 
in  the  Christian  Church"  "the  true  and  fundamental 
principles  of  the  Christian  Religion."  Nor  did  he  leave 
it  in  the  discretion  of  the  Trustees  to  apply  the  en- 
dowment according  to  their  own  notion  of  what  are 
"  the  true  and  fundamental  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion."  He  put  upon  the  record  a  summary  of  those 
principles  as  understood  and  embraced  by  himself  and 
the  founders  whom  he  was  guiding,  and  whose  names 
were  subscribed  to  the  instrument.  Thus,  from  the 
date  of  the  original  endowment,  there  seems  to  have 
been  in  the  minds  of  the  founders  some  forethought 
of  an  institution  for  the  study  of  theology  —  a  fore- 
thought to  which  one  of  them,  a  few  years  later, 
gave  distinct  expression  in  his  will. 

The  first  Principal  of  Phillips  Academy  was  Elipha- 
let  Pearson,  an  intimate  friend  of  the  founders,  and 
a  somewhat  eminent  specimen  of  the  anti-Hopkinsian 
Calvinism  of  New  England.  Eight  years  he  continued 
in  that  office,  and  then  he  was  removed  to  the  pro- 
fessorship of  Hebrew  and  other  Oriental  Languages, 
in  Harvard  College.  In  the  year  1800,  he  received, 
in  addition  to  his  professorship,  a  place  among  the 
five  Fellows  of  that  corporation.  After  the  death  of 


86  COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE. 

President  Willard,  in  1804,  he  performed  for  more 
than  a  year  the  functions  of  President.  In  1806, 
after  the  election  of  Dr.  Ware  to  the  Hollis  Professor- 
ship of  Divinity,  and  of  Dr.  Webber  to  the  Presidency, 
he  resigned  his  offices  at  Cambridge  and  returned  to 
Andover.  He  seems  to  have  felt  that  Harvard  College 
was  no  longer  likely  to  serve  the  religious  purposes 
for  which  it  was  founded.  The  intimacy  of  his  rela- 
tions with  the  deceased  founders  of  Phillips  Academy, 
and  with  the  surviving  members  of  their  family,  and 
his  position  as  President  of  the  Trustees,  gave  him  a 
potent  influence.  The  Trustees,  of  whom  the  pastor 
of  the  church  in  this  parish  was  one,  were  all  Cal- 
vinists  of  the  anti-Hopkinsian  school,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  three  or  four  laymen,  whose  relations  were 
with  the  party  afterwards  known  as  Unitarian.  Here, 
then,  among  the  Trustees  and  patrons  of  Phillips 
Academy  —  not  without  counsel,  as  we  may  presume, 
from  other  old  Calvinists  in  the  vicinity  —  there  arose 
the  design  of  a  Divinity  School  to  be  established 
under  the  care  of  the  existing  Academic  Corporation. 
Meanwhile  another  movement  was  in  progress  among 
the  Hopkinsians.  In  Salem,  Dr.  Daniel  Hopkins,  a 
younger  brother  and  theological  disciple  of  Samuel, 
had  long  been  pastor  of  a  church  which  he  had  im- 
bued not  only  with  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  the 
new  Divinity,  but  with  that  expectation  of  the  mil- 
lennial glory,  and  that  spirit  of  aggressive  enterprise 
for  the  advancement  of  the  gospel,  which,  from  the 
time  of  the  great  awakening,  had  never  slumbered 
among  the  adherents  of  that  system.  At  Newbury- 
port,  Dr.  Samuel  Spring,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 


COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE.  87 

earnest  defenders  of  the  new  Divinity,  and  connected 
by  marriage  with  both  Hopkins  and  Emmons,  was 
pastor  of  a  congregation  which  he  had  trained  into 
sympathy  not  only  with  his  theological  opinions,  but 
with  his  largeness  of  heart.  Salem  and  Newburyport 
—  those  ancient  towns  now  so  quiet  —  were  then  the 
seats  of  a  commerce  that  went  out  into  all  the  world, 
and  brought  back  wealth  from  the  shores  of  every 
sea.  Among  the  merchants  whom  that  commerce 
was  enriching,  there  were  three  whose  names  will  be 
had  in  everlasting  remembrance,  —  two  in  Dr.  Spring's 
congregation,  at  Newburyport,  WILLIAM  BARTLET  and 
MOSES  BROWN  ;  and  another  in  Dr.  Hopkins's  congrega- 
tion at  Salem,  JOHN  NORRIS.  These  three  men,  under 
the  personal  influence  and  persuasion  of  Dr.  Spring, 
were  induced  to  entertain  the  design  of  founding  an 
institution  for  the  study  of  theology.  Their  insti- 
tution, as  Dr.  Spring  and  his  associates  in  counsel 
had  planned  it,  was  to  be  in  Newbury ;  and  the  pas- 
tor of  the  church  in  Newbury,  Leonard  Woods,  a 
young  Hopkinsian  divine  of  great  promise,  living  in 
a  most  intimate  friendship  with  his  venerable  neigh- 
bor, Dr.  Spring,  was  to  be  the  first  professor. 

Thus  the  plans  had  been  formed,  and  preliminary 
measures  taken,  for  the  establishment  of  two  theo- 
logical seminaries  in  this  immediate  neighborhood. 
Had  these  two  plans  been  carried  out,  independently 
of  each  other,  there  would  have  been  here  a  seminary 
in  the  interest  of  the  old  or  moderate  Calvinism,  and 
at  Newbury  another  seminary  in  the  interest  of  the 
new  or  Hopkinsian  Calvinism.  Such  a  rivalry  would 
have  weakened  the  whole  movement  for  an  improved 


88  COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE. 

system  of  theological  study;  it  would  have  inflamed 
and  kept  alive  the  odium  theologicum  between  the  two 
parties ;  it  would  have  modified  the  whole  subsequent 
history  of  the  American  Churches,  so  far  as  that  his- 
tory has  been  affected  by  influences  from  this  institu- 
tion. But  just  at  that  crisis  there  was  an  extraor- 
dinary necessity  for  union  —  a  necessity  which  was 
felt  by  both  parties  when  each  began  to  know  what 
the  other  was  attempting.  Another  party,  which  was 
not  only  anti-Hopkinsian,  but  anti-Calvinistic,  had  been 
slowly  gaining  strength  for  more  than  half  a  century, 
and  was  then  just  lapsing  into  an  open  profession  of 
Unitarianism.  The  election  of  Dr.  Ware  to  the  Pro- 
fessorship of  Divinity  in  Harvard  College,  and  the 
controversy  to  which  that  election  gave  birth,  revealed 
to  the  public  —  what  sagacious  minds  had  anticipated 
—  the  portentous  facts  that  the  most  venerable  and 
honored  of  American  colleges  had  come  under  Uni- 
tarian control;  and  that  all  the  old  churches  in  the 
metropolis  of  New  England,  with  one  exception,  which 
might  cease  to  be  an  exception,  had  passed  through 
the  old  Arminianism  of  1750  into  Unitarianism  — 
some  of  them  to  the  extreme  of  that  empty  and 
Christless  theory  of  which  Belsham  and  Priestley  were 
the  Apostles.  Of  the  extent  to  which  that  defection 
had  spread  among  the  clergy  and  churches  of  eastern 
New  England,  from  Providence  to  Portland,  and  from 
the  Bay  to  the  River  —  of  the  alarm  which  was  felt 
by  those  who  still  adhered  to  the  faith  in  which  our 
churches  were  planted  —  of  the  exulting  tone  in  which 
the  utter  downfall  of  Hopkinsianism,  Calvinism,  and 
Trinitarianism  was  predicted  —  of  the  grieved,  indig- 


COMMEMORATIVE      D  I  S  C  0  U  11  S  E .  89 

nant,  and  often  bitter  feelings  that  were  roused  in  the 
progress  of  division, — I  need  not  speak.  Those  who 
cannot  remember,  may  imagine  those  things  for  them- 
selves. At  such  a  crisis  —  in  the  presence  of  a  com- 
mon adversary  so  powerful  and  so  flushed  with  success, 
the  Hopkinsians  and  the  more  moderate  Calvinists 
were  compelled  to  recognize  each  other's  orthodoxy, 
and,  suspending  for  a  while  their  controversies  with 
each  other,  to  unite  in  measures  for  the  defence  and 
advancement  of  their  common  faith. 

Whether  the  first  proposal  for  union  in  a  theological 
seminary  came  from  Newburyport  or  from  Andover,  I 
am  unable  to  determine.  But  it  may  help  us  to  under- 
stand the  progress  of  the  negotiation,  and  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  union  which  was  actually  effected,  if  we 
turn  to  the  formal  record  of  what  was  done. 

On  the  ninth  of  June,  1807,  it "  had  been  signified  in 
confidence  to  certain  members  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  Phillips  Academy,  by  persons  then  to  that 
Board  unknown,  that  large  additions  to  the  funds  of 
the  Academy  might  be  expected,  provided  the  Trustees 
might  be  authorized  to  receive  them,  and  would  appro- 
priate them  to  give  effect  to  the  design  of  the  founders 
of  the  Academy  relative  to  theological  instruction  in 
said  Academy ; "  and  thereupon  it  was  determined  "  that 
application  be  made  to  the  Legislature  for  power  to 
hold  larger  funds  for  this  purpose,  and  thus  to  carry 
into  effect  the  designs  of  the  original  founders  of  the 
Academy."  Ten  days  afterwards  the  desired  amend- 
ment of  the  charter  was  enacted  by  the  Legislature. 

On  the  second  of  September  following,  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Trustees  at  the  house  of  Madam  Phillips,  a  for- 
12 


90  COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE. 

mal  "instrument,  making  provision  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Theological  Institution  in  Phillips  Academy, 
and  containing  the  constitution  of  the  same,  was  com- 
municated." The  provision  which  it  made  for  the 
establishment  of  a  theological  institution  was,  that 
"  Madam  PHCEBE  PHILLIPS,  Relict  of  Samuel  Phillips, 
Esq.,  late  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Commonwealth," 
and  the  Honorable  JOHN  PHILLIPS  of  Andover,  her  son, 
bound  themselves  "  to  erect  and  finish,  with  all  con- 
venient despatch,  two  separate  buildings,"  —  while 
"  SAMUEL  ABBOTT  of  Andover,  Esq.,"  gave  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars  "  as  a  fund  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining 
a  professor  of  Christian  Theology,  and  for  the  support 
and  encouragement  of  students  in  Divinity."  By 
those  donations  the  Seminary  was  founded ;  and  the 
"  general  principles  and  regulations  "  which  were  incor- 
porated in  the  deed  of  endowment  became  "  the  con- 
stitution "  of  the  Seminary,  subject  only  to  such 
additions  or  alterations,  not  inconsistent  with  the  orig- 
inal design,  as  might  be  made  by  those  three  founders 
in  their  life-time.  As  I  read  that  constitution,  espe- 
cially those  parts  of  it  which  prescribe  the  range  of 
studies  and  the  course  and  method  of  instruction  in 
the  Seminary  which  it  establishes,  and  when  I  remem- 
ber at  the  same  time  that  the  framers  of  that  instru- 
ment had  no  model  before  them,  I  marvel  at  its  com- 
pleteness, the  reach  of  its  foresight,  and  the  breadth 
of  its  views.  The  information  has  come  down  to  us  in 
an  authentic  way,  that  the  entire  instrument,  and 
whatever  modifications  of  it  were  subsequently  or- 
dained by  those  founders,  were  composed,  sentence 
after  sentence,  by  three  of  the  Trustees,  whom  Mr. 


COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE.  91 

Abbott,  the  founder,  himself  also  a  Trustee,  had  made 
his  special  advisers,  and  whom  he  called  his  "  privy 
council."  Dr.  Pearson,  whom  I  have  already  men- 
tioned, the  Rev.  Jonathan  French,  long  the  pastor  of 
this  parish,  and  our  venerable  friend,  Mr.  Farrar,  were 
those  advisers.  How  rare  a  privilege  is  it  to  us  that 
one  who  had  so  important  a  part  in  the  earliest  mea- 
sures for  the  founding  of  this  Seminary,  has  been 
continued  among  the  living  to  join  with  us  in  the 
celebration  of  this  jubilee !  How  rare  a  privilege, 
that  we,  on  whom  time  has  wrought  so  many  changes, 
are  permitted,  on  this  occasion,  to  see  once  more  that 
familiar  and  loving  countenance  unchanged ! 

Eight  months  after  the  formal  founding  of  the  Sem- 
inary, (4th  May,  1808)  another  "legal  instrument,"  enti- 
tled "  The  Statutes  of  the  Associate  Foundation  in  the 
Theological  Institution  in  Andover,"  was  communicated 
to  the  Trustees.  By  that  instrument,  executed  on  the 
21st  of  March  preceding,  the  Associate  Founders,  MOSES 
BROWN,  WILLIAM  BARTLET,  and  JOHN  NORRIS,  gave,  each, 
ten  thousand  dollars,  and  WILLIAM  BARTLET  an  addi- 
tional amount  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  constituting  a 
fund  for  the  support  of  two  professors  and  for  the  aid 
of  students,  and  ordained  certain  statutes  to  control 
the  application  of  that  endowment.  It  is  plain,  from 
the  record,  that  the  Trustees  found  in  the  Statutes  of 
the  Associate  Founders  much  matter  for  discussion. 
The  entire  plan  of  a  union  between  two  parties  differ- 
ing in  the  degree  of  their  Calvinism,  was  to  be  settled 
by  the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  that  instrument. 
The  whole  day  was  occupied  with  reading  the  instru- 
ment twice,  and  considering  its  provisions  article  by 


92  COMMEMORATIVE        DISCOURSE. 

article ;  and  then  the  meeting  was  adjourned  from 
Wednesday  (May  4th,)  to  the  following  Monday 
(May  9th).  At  the  adjourned  meeting,  beginning  at 
two,  P.  M.,  the  afternoon  and  evening  were  devoted  to 
the  discussion  and  consideration  of  the  same  instru- 
ment, but  no  conclusion  was  reached.  The  next 
morning,  at  eight  o'clock,  "  the  discussion  was  resumed, 
and  after  mature  consideration  of  the  said  instrument, 
and  prayerful  deliberation  on  the  important  subject 
thereof,"  the  offered  endowment  was  accepted  on  the 
prescribed  conditions.  The  vote  was  taken  by  yeas 
and  nays,  and  was  unanimous,  with  one  exception. 
Only  eight  of  the  twelve  Trustees  appear  to  have 
been  present.  Their  names  appear  upon  the  record 
thus  :  "  Yeas,  Nehemiah  Abbott,  Samuel  Farrar,  Jona- 
than French,  Jedediah  Morse,  John  Phillips  (Andover), 
Eliphalet  Pearson,  and  Mark  Newman.  The  Rev. 
Daniel  Dana  did  not  vote."  The  now  venerable  Dr. 
Dana  was  a  young  man  fifty  years  ago  ;  but  he  was 
even  then,  as  he  ever  has  been,  with  unbending  con- 
sistency, an  Old  School  Presbyterian  Calvinist,  and  not 
a  moderate  Cambridge  Calvinist ;  then,  as  ever  since, 
his  Calvinism  was  of  the  sort  that  makes  no  compro- 
mises with  Hopkinsian  improvements  in  theology ; 
then,  as  ever  since,  he  was  not  afraid  to  stand,  like  the 
poet's  Abdiel,  alone  in  his  unswerving  allegiance  to  his 
principles.  And  now,  in  his  venerable  age,  it  is  his 
privilege  to  see  that  the  theological  party  which  de- 
nounces Hopkinsianism,  not  as  hyper-Calvinistic  but  as 
involving  Arminian  and  Pelagian  elements  —  not  for 
its  supererogation  of  orthodoxy  in  accepting  inferences 
which  moderate  Calvinists  repudiate,  but  for  its  posi- 


COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE.  93 

tive  heresies  in  rejecting  theories  which  Calvin  and 
Augustine  are  said  to  have  held  —  is  actually  gaining 
disciples,  and  may  even  be  regarded  as  the  newest 
development  of  theological  progress  in  New  England. 

In  the  statutes  of  the  Associate  Founders,  there 
wer.e  three  stipulations  which  obviously  required  the 
most  careful  attention.  One  was,  that  those  Founders 
did  not  commit  their  gift,  simply  and  absolutely,  to 
the  incorporated  Trustees  of  Phillips  Academy,  but 
with  exceeding  carefulness  provided  for  a  Board  of 
Visitors.  The  original  Founders,  in  their  Constitution 
of  the  Theological  Seminary,  had  provided  for  subse- 
quent Founders  the  right  not  only  of  prescribing  stat- 
utes which  should  control  the  application  of  their  gifts, 
but  also  of  appointing  visitors  with  power  to  secure 
and  enforce  the  observance  of  such  statutes.  But  these 
Associate  Founders  had  erected  a  Board  of  Visitors  with 
full  power  not  only  to  take  care  that  the  endowment 
should  not  be  perverted  or  squandered,  but  also  to 
superintend,  correct,  and  control  all  the  proceedings  of 
the  Trustees  in  the  administration  of  it.  In  a  word, 
they  had  erected,  if  their  offer  should  be  accepted,  a 
Board  of  Overseers  to  superintend  the  existing  corpo- 
ration, with  powers  as  ample  as  belong  to  the  Over- 
seers of  Harvard  College.  Another  stipulation,  upon 
which  the  Trustees  might  naturally  hesitate  in  their 
deliberations,  was  the  new  and  distinct  provision  for 
the  orthodoxy  of  Professors  on  the  Associate  Founda- 
tion. In  the  original  Constitution  of  the  Seminary,  it 
had  been  provided  that  every  Professor  shall  be  "  a 
man  of  sound  and  orthodox  principles  in  Divinity,  ac- 
cording to  that  form  of  sound  words  or  system  of 


94  COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE. 

evangelical  doctrines,  drawn  from  the  Scriptures,  and 
denominated  the  '  Westminster  Assembly's  Shorter 
Catechism/  and  more  concisely  delineated  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  Phillips  Academy."  But  the  Associate 
Founders  required  that  every  Professor  on  their  Foun- 
dation shall  be  "  an  orthodox  and  consistent  Calvinist." 
In  the  original  Constitution,  it  had  been  ordained  that 
every  Professor  shall,  on  the  day  of  his  inauguration, 
"  publicly  make  and  subscribe  a  solemn  declaration  of 
his  faith  in  Divine  Revelation,  and  in  the  fundamental 
and  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  as 
summarily  expressed  in  the  Westminster  Assembly's 
Shorter  Catechism."  But  in  the  Statutes  of  the  Asso- 
ciate Founders  it  was  ordained  that  every  Professor 
shall  undergo  "  a  careful  examination  by  the  Visitors 
with  reference  to  his  religious  principles,"  and  "  shall, 
on  the  day  of  his  inauguration,  publicly  make  and 
subscribe  a  solemn  declaration  of  his  faith  in  Divine 
Revelation,  and  in  the  fundamental  and  distinguishing 
doctrines  of  the  Gospel  as  expressed"  in  a  certain 
Creed,  which  is  not  the  "Westminster  Assembly's  Cate- 
chism." In  addition  to  all  this,  there  was  the  farther 
stipulation  that,  for  the  first  seven  years,  the  whole 
arrangement  should  be  merely  an  experiment,  and 
that,  at  the  end  of  that  probation,  the  Visitors  ap- 
pointed by  the  Associate  Founders  should  have  full 
power  to  make  a  new  arrangement  with  the  Trustees, 
or  to  remove  the  Associate  funds  entirely,  if  to  them 
the  system  should  seem  "  unsafe  or  inexpedient."  We 
cannot  wonder  that  even  the  offer  of  forty  thousand 
dollars,  with  an  indefinite  expectation  of  more  from 
the  same  munificence,  was  the  subject  of  protracted 


C  0  M  M  E  M  0  11  A  T  I  V  E      DISCOURSE.  95 

discussion  when  accompanied  by  such  stipulations  as 
these.  The  whole  question  whether  there  should  be 
two  seminaries  or  only  one,  was  depending  on  the  ac- 
ceptance of  that  offer,  with  the  accompanying  condi- 
tions. 

Doubtless,  there  was  some  help  to  that  discussion  in 
the  weighty  fact  that  the  original  Founders  had  already 
executed  a  legal  instrument,  consenting  to  the  proposed 
coalition,  and  amending  their  own  Constitution,  (in  the 
exercise  of  the  power  which  they  had  reserved  to 
themselves  during  their  lifetime,)  by  incorporating 
with  it  all  the  Statutes  of  the  Associate  Founders  con- 
cerning the  Board  of  Visitors  and  the  Creed  for  the 
Professors.  But  that  instrument  was  to  be  valid  only 
on  condition  that  the  new  endowment,  with  all  its 
Statutes,  should  be  accepted  by  the  Trustees.  It  was 
for  those  seven  moderate  Calvinists  to  determine,  by 
their  votes,  not  only  whether  they,  as  Trustees,  would 
give  up  their  exclusive  control  of  the  endowment 
already  in  their  hands,  and  come  under  the  perpetual 
supervision  of  a  Board  of  Visitors,  in  all  their  govern- 
ment of  the  Theological  Institution,  but  also  whether  a 
new  and  more  rigorous  test  of  theological  orthodoxy 
should  be  incorporated  with  the  general  Constitution 
of  the  Seminary,  as  well  as  with  the  special  Statutes 
of  the  Associate  Foundation. 

That  the  Associate  Founders  and  their  theological 
advisers  were  not  satisfied  with  the  provision  which 
the  original  Founders  had  made  for  the  permanent  or- 
thodoxy of  the  institution,  is  evident  from  the  fact,  that 
they  did  not  incorporate  that  provision  into  their  own 
Statutes,  but  framed  another  in  the  place  of  it.  If  I 


96  COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE. 

mistake  not,  the  difference  between  the  two  Constitu- 
tions in  this  respect  is  highly  significant.  The  original 
Constitution,  where  it  defines  the  qualifications  of  the 
Professors,  and  where  it  prescribes  the  declaration  which 
they  are  severally  to  make  at  their  induction  into  office, 
requires  a  liberal,  not  to  say  a  loose  construction. 
"  Sound  and  orthodox  principles  in  Divinity,  according 
to  that  form  of  sound  words  or  system  of  evangelical 
doctrines,  drawn  from  the  Scriptures,  and  denominated 
the  Westminster  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism,"  might 
perhaps  have  been  construed  to  exclude  a  professor 
for  any  deviation  of  his  opinions  from  the  letter  of  that 
formulary;  but  when  the  meaning  of  "sound  and  or- 
thodox principles  in  Divinity  "  is  farther  explained  by 
adding  that  the  "  system  of  evangelical  doctrines " 
referred  to  is  "  more  concisely  delineated  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  Phillips  Academy,"  it  becomes  palpable  that 
the  Catechism  is  not  to  be  the  exclusive  test,  but  is 
referred  to  only  as  one  convenient  method  of  identify- 
ing the  general  system  of  orthodoxy.  The  Associate 
Founders  were  not  satisfied  with  this.  The  theologi- 
cal system  which  their  advisers  held  gloried  in  its  con- 
sistency. Little  respect  had  they  for  an  inconsistent 
Calvinism  that  dared  not  accept  the  logical  conclusions 
from  its  own  system.  In  their  way  of  thinking,  those 
great  New  England  divines  of  that  and  the  preceding 
age,  who,  by  the  exactness  of  their  definitions  and  the 
fearlessness  of  their  deductions,  had  improved  upon  the 
theories  of  their  predecessors,  were  the  most  consistent 
of  all  Calvinists.  Therefore,  instead  of  talking  (as  men 
of  the  other  school  were  wont  to  talk)  about  "  sound 
and  orthodox  principles  according  to  the  Shorter  Cat- 


COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE.  97 

echism,"  they  required  that  every  Professor  on  their 
Foundation  should  be  "  an  orthodox  and  consistent  Cal- 
vinist,"  and  should  be  carefully  examined  by  the  Vis- 
itors. Under  the  original  Constitution  every  Professor 
was  required  to  make  a  declaration  of  his  faith,  not  in 
every  sentence  and  syllable  of  the  Catechism,  but  "in 
the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  as  summarily 
expressed  in  the  Catechism."  But  the  Associate  Found- 
ers in  their  Statutes  reject  the  reference  to  the  Cate- 
chism, and  require  the  Professor  to  declare  his  faith  "  in 
the  distinguishing  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  as  expressed  " 
in  a  Creed  which  they  prescribe,  and  which  is  written 
out  in  the  first  person,  singular  number,  for  him  to 
adopt  verbatim.  That  Creed  of  theirs  differs  from  the 
Catechism  by  significant  omissions,  and  by  equally  sig- 
nificant additions.  It  speaks  of  Adam  as  "  the  federal 
head  and  representative  of  the  human  race ;"  but  instead 
of  saying  that  "  the  guilt  of  Adam's  first  sin  "  is  any 
part  of  "  the  sinfulness  of  that  estate  wherein  to  the  fall 
hath  brought  mankind,"  it  only  says,  in  words  which 
Hopkins,  or  Emmons,  as  well  as  Spring,  would  have 
chosen,  and  which  Calvin  or  Gomar  might  have  ac- 
cepted, "  that  in  consequence  of  his  disobedience,  all  his 
descendants  are  constituted  sinners," —  that  word  "  consti- 
tuted "  being  the  literal  translation  of  the  Apostle  Paul's 
/career c&rjo-av,  in  Rom.  v.  19.  It  says  nothing  about  "  the 
corruption  of  man's  whole  nature,"  but  it  affirms  that 
"  ty  nature  every  man  is  personally  depraved,"  and  "  that 
previously  to  the  renewing  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
all  his  moral  actions  are  adverse  to  the  character  and 
glory  of  God."  It  puts  the  necessity  of  regeneration, 
distinctly,  on  the  ground  that  man  is  "  morally  incapable 

13 


98  COMMEMORATIVE       DISCOURSE. 

of  recovering  the  image  of  God."  It  distinctly  affirms 
that  Christ  "  has  made  atonement  for  the  sins  of  #//men," 
and  "  that  nothing  but  the  sinner's  aversion  to  holiness  pre- 
vents his  salvation."  The  obvious  intention  of  the 
framers  of  that  formula  was  twofold :  first,  to  have  a 
test  of  orthodoxy  for  their  Professors,  which  should  be 
less  capable  of  a  latitudinarian  construction,  than  that 
general  reference  to  u  a  system  of  evangelical  doctrines  " 
which  they  found  in  the  original  Constitution  of  the 
Seminary ;  and  secondly,  to  exclude  the  possibility  of 
imposing  on  their  Professors,  any  of  those  traditionary 
and  antinomianizing  theories  of  evangelical  doctrine 
against  which  the  New  England  Calvinism  protested, 
and  which  Dr.  Woods,  when  I  was  a  student  here,  de- 
nominated "  the  fag  ends  of  Calvinism."  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  equally  to  be  observed  that  their  summary 
of  doctrines  requires  no  man  to  profess  or  accept  any 
of  those  extreme  deductions  which  had  been  made  by 
certain- "  consistent  Calvinists,"  and  which,  at  this  day, 
I  may  call,  without  offence,  the  fag  ends  of  Hopkinsian- 
ism.  While  it  carefully  avoids,  and,  in  some  points, 
plainly  contradicts  that  peculiar  scheme  of  Calvinism 
which  so  many  Presbyterians  regard  as  the  only  honest 
interpretation  of  their  ecclesiastical  standards,  it  com- 
mits itself  on  none  of  the  points  on  which  the  New 
England  Calvinists  of  that  day  differed  among  them- 
selves. It  asserts  neither  "  the  taste  scheme  "  nor  "  the 
exercise  -scheme."  It  says  nothing  about  the  meta- 
physical dogma  that  God  creates  the  actions  of  men. 
It  makes  no  paradoxical  deduction  from  the  principle 
of  disinterested  benevolence  and  the  duty  of  absolute 
submission  to  the  Divine  will.  It  does  not  even  assert 


COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE.  99' 

that  sin  is  the  necessary  means  of  the  greatest  good. 
In  all  these  respects,  at  least,  it  is  truly  "  a  compromise.'' 
While  it  is  such  that  probably  even  the  beloved  and 
honored  Alexander,  who  so  long  adorned  the  chair  of 
Didactic  and  Polemic  Theology  at  Princeton,  could  not 
have  accepted  it  as  the  profession  of  his  faith ;  it  is 
nevertheless  such  that  not  only  Spring  and  Dwight,  but 
Hopkins  or  Smalley,  Emmons  or  Burton ;  nay,  Stiles  or 
Tappan,  Holmes  or  French,  could  have  adopted  it 
without  exception  or  explanation.  In  calling  that  creed 
a  "  compromise,"  I  am  sustained  by  the  authority  of 
Dr.  Woods.  He  says  expressly,  "  The  creed  appointed 
for  the  Professors  is  not  a  sectarian  creed.  It  was  in 
fact  formed  as  a  matter  of  compromise  between  men 
who  agreed  in  the  great  doctrines  of  Christianity,  but 
differed  in  the  modes  of  thinking  on  minor  points.  Two 
sets  of  Founders,  previously  unknown  to  each  other, 
had  devoted  a  part  of  their  substance  to  the  establish- 
ment of  two  theological  seminaries ;  but,  on  becoming 
acquainted  with  each  other's  designs,  were  desirous  of 
uniting  their  funds  in  one  great  institution ;  and,  for 
the  sake  of  such  a  union,  were  willing,  on  each  side,  to 
do  all  they  could,  consistently  with  a  good  conscience, 
to  meet  the  views  of  those  on  the  other  side.  In- 
fluenced by  these  kind,  Christian  feelings,  they  found 
that  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  union  gradually  sub- 
sided. After  a  free  interchange  of  thought  and  many 
sincere  efforts,  and  many  fervent  prayers  to  the  Father 
of  lights,  those  concerned  on  both  sides  became  entirely 
satisfied,  and  unanimously  adopted  the  creed  as  it  stands 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  Seminary."  *  There  let  it 

*  Serm.  on  the  Death  of  Dr.  Porter.      JFo;-/-s,  V.  p.  308. 


100  COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE. 

stand !  For  its  purpose,  the  creed  is  a  good  one.  It  is  not 
a  church  creed,  but,  in  the  phrase  of  its  authors,  a  "  theo- 
logical creed."  Whatever  objections  we  might  make 
to  the  use  of  such  a  formulary  as  a  test  of  Christian 
character  in  the  administration  of  church  discipline,  we 
should  not  forget  that  a  profession  of  personal  faith  in 
Christ  is  one  thing,  and  the  outline  of  a  theological  sys- 
tem to  be  conscientiously  accepted  and  faithfully  ex- 
pounded by  a  theological  professor,  is  another  thing.  We 
may  maintain  that  a  church  has  no  right  to  debar  from 
its  communion  any  who  give  evidence  that  they  believe 
in  Christ  to  the  saving  of  the  soul ;  but  we  cannot  deny 
that,  within  reasonable  limits,  the  founders  of  a  school 
for  theological  learning  have  a  right  to  annex  condi- 
tions to  their  gifts,  and  especially  to  determine  what 
sort  of  men  their  trustees  and  representatives  shall 
employ  in  the  function  of  teaching,  and  to  what  scheme 
or  system  of  doctrines  the  endowment  shall  be  de- 
voted. 

The  words  which  I  have  just  recited  as  authorizing 
us  to  call  the  seminary  creed  "  a  compromise,"  are  a 
true  testimony  felicitously  uttered.  They  are  the  tes- 
timony of  one  who  was  intimately  conversant  with  all 
the  proceedings,  and  who,  at  the  end  of  all  the  deliber- 
ation and  concession  which  he  describes,  had  so  effect- 
ually commended  himself  to  the  confidence  of  the  orig- 
inal founders  as  a  safe  and  judicious  theologian,  that, 
notwithstanding  his  Hopkinsian  antecedents,  he  was 
appointed  by  their  right  of  nomination  to  the  Abbot 
Professorship.  That  appointment,  reciprocated  as  it 
was  by  the  appointment  of  Dr.  Pearson  as  the  first  Pro- 
fessor on  the  Associate  endowment,  was  the  exchange 


COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE.  101 

of  ratifications  between  the  contracting  parties.  We 
cannot  but  regard  it  as  a  token  of  God's  favor  towards 
those  large-hearted  benefactors,  that  their  munificence 
was  the  occasion  and  the  means  of  effecting  such  a 
compromise.  Thus  it  was  that  the  founding  of  this 
Seminary  was  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  New  England 
theology.  It  was  founded,  not  for  the  special  interest 
of  any  one  locality  or  district,  nor  for  the  special  system 
of  any  theological  discoverer,  but  for  the  common 
interest  of  the  churches,  and  for  the  common  orthodoxy 
of  Massachusetts  and  New  England.  It  was  pledged  at 
the  outset  to  a  large  and  tolerant  orthodoxy,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  intolerance  and  contentiousness  by 
which  the  little  cliques  and  parties  that  arise  in  a  par- 
ticular locality,  or  around  a  particular -great  man,  are 
too  often  characterized.  That  sort  of  intolerance,  we 
must  confess,  was  from  the  beginning  as  characteristic 
of  the  New  Divinity  leaders  as  it  was  of  their  Old 
Divinity  adversaries. 

It  was  in  consequence  of  this  union  between  differ- 
ent parties,  if  I  mistake  not,  that  the  Seminary  was 
able  to  command,  as  soon  as  it  was  founded,  so  large  a 
measure  of  public  confidence. .  The  consciousness  that 
a  great  controversy  was  impending,  —  a  controversy 
not  on  the  questionable  inferences  and  ingenious  theo- 
ries of  theological  speculation,  but  on  the  essential 
things  of  evangelical  doctrine  and  of  faith  in  Christ,  — 
had  prepared  the  minds  of  sagacious  and  thoughtful 
men  throughout  New  England  to  forget  old  questions 
on  which  theological  parties  had  divided,  and  to  rally 
for  the  common  orthodoxy.  This  it  was,  as  well  as  the 
expectation  of  great  advantages  in  preparation  for  the 


102  COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE. 

ministry  under  a  corps  of  theological  professors  wholly 
devoted  to  their  work,  which  brought  to  the  Seminary, 
in  the  first  year  of  its  existence,  and  while  Phillips  Hall 
was  not  yet  quite  finished,  more  than  thirty  students. 
Such  names  as  those  of  Luther  Hart,  Matthew  R.  Dut- 
ton,  Gordon  Hall,  Adoniram  Judson,  Samuel  Newell,  — 
not  to  mention  any  whose  warfare  is  not  yet  ended, 
nor  all  to  whom  the  Master  has  already  said,  "  Well 
done," —  show  how  speedily  the  new  institution  began 
to  attract  to  itself  men  whom  God  had  destined  to  emi- 
nent service. 

Others,  in  the  progress  of  this  celebration,  have 
spoken  or  will  speak  of  the  distinguished  men,  who, 
having  served  this  institution  in  the  various  professor- 
ships, have  gone  from  among  the  living.  Of  the  sev- 
eral Founders,  too,  a  due  commemoration  will  be  made 
by  those  who  are  more  qualified  than  I  to  speak  their  eu- 
logy. In  the  memorable  catalogue  of  the  Founders  and 
chief  benefactors  of  the  Seminary, —  MADAM  PHILLIPS, 
JOHN  PHILLIPS,  ABBOT,  BROWN,  BARTLET,  NORRIS,  and  MAD- 
AM NORRIS,  —  there  is  only  one  name  that  awakens  in 
my  mind  a  distinct  reminiscence  of  the  person  whom  it 
designates.  I  well  remember  —  as  all  the  older  alurnni 
must  remember  —  the  stately  and  massive  form  of 
William  Bartlet,  as  we  were  wont  to  see  him  in  the 
chapel  at  the  Anniversary,  and  sometimes  when  he 
made  an  occasional  visit.  Once  only  I  met  him  in  a 
smaller  company,  and  had  the  favor  of  a  personal  intro- 
duction to  him.  I  count  it  among  the  privileges  of 
my  life  to  have  had  even  so  slight  an  acquaintance 
with  a  man  who  knew  so  well  what  his  great  wealth 
could  do  for  his  felicity.  Never  did  a  rich  man  find  a 


COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE.  103 

more  hearty  satisfaction  in  any  investment  or  expendi- 
ture of  his  wealth,  than  he  found  in  the  princely  dona- 
tions which  he  made  for  the  advancement  of  Christ's 
kingdom  by  means  of  this  institution. 

The  time  is  already  failing  me ;  and  yet  the  survey 
which  I  had  proposed  to  make  is  only  half  completed. 
I  have  spoken  in  a  too  rambling  and  desultory  manner 
of  the  foregoing  state  of  things  which  resulted  in  the 
founding  of  this  Seminary,  —  the  former  modes  of  study 
in  preparation  for  the  ministry ;  the  private  theologi- 
cal schools,  which  had  grown  up  in  connection  with  the 
origin  and  growth  of  a  distinctive  New  England  the- 
ology; the  differences  between  the  moderate  Calvin. 
ists  or  Old  Divinity  men,  and  the  consistent  Calvinists 
or  New  Divinity  men ;  the  recognized  defection  of 
Harvard  College  from  the  orthodoxy  for  which  it  was 
founded,  together  with  the  unequivocally  manifested 
strength  of  Unitarianism  at  the  chief  seat  of  moral  and 
social  influence  in  New  England ;  and  in  combination 
with  all  other  causes  and  tendencies,  that  enterprising 
and  aggressive  spirit  in  the  service  of  Christ,  and  that 
'  earnest  expectation  of  great  victories  and  successes 
soon  to  be  achieved,  which  was  the  product  of  the 
religious  revival  in  the  time  of  Edwards,  and  which  was 
especially  characteristic  of  the  progressive  party  among 
the  pastors  and  churches  of  New  England.  It  remains 
for  me  to  speak,  too  briefly,  of  those  changes  to  which 
the  influence  of  this  institution  has  contributed.  What 
have  been  the  results  of  the  sagacity  that  projected 
and  the  munificence  that  endowed  this  Theological 
Seminary  ? 


104  COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE. 

First  and  most  prominent  among  those  results  is  the 
new  system  of  preparation  for  the  ministry.  Half  a 
century  ago  it  was  generally  assumed,  —  though,  if  it 
had  ever  been  true,  it  was  not  true  then,  —  that  a  col- 
lege graduate  was  of  course  acquainted  with  theology, 
at  least  as  much  as  with  any  other  branch  of  learning. 
An  additional  term  of  twelve  months,  or  six,  and  often 
only  three,  spent  with  some  pastor  in  reading  a  few 
books  and  writing  a  few  dissertations  and  a  few  ser- 
mons under  his  direction,  was  deemed  quite  sufficient. 
But  when  the  benefactors  whom  God  had  raised  up, 
brought  their  princely  offerings  to  the  founding  of  a 
college  for  the  study  of  Divinity ;  when  the  judicious 
Woods,  in  the  department  of  Doctrinal  Theology,  and 
the  learned  and  critical  Pearson,  soon  to  be  followed  by 
the  enthusiastic  and  illustrious  Stuart,  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Biblical  study,  and  the  eloquent  orator  Griffin, 
and  after  him  the  very  Quintilian  of  sacred  rhetoric, 
Porter,  began  to  give  gratuitous  instruction  here ;  when 
classes  of  ten,  twenty,  thirty,  pledged  to  a  three  years' 
course  of  study,  wrere  gathered  here  within  college 
walls,  with  every  possible  advantage  for  mutual  excite- 
ment and  mutual  helpfulness ;  —  how  soon  and  how 
completely  did  the  old  system  pass  away !  Theologi- 
cal seminaries  have  been  multiplied,  since  that  day,  in 
New  England  and  throughout  the  United  States ;  but 
they  have  all  been  modelled  after  this,  and  the  devia- 
tions from  the  original  type  have  been  comparatively 
few.  The  founding  of  this  Seminary,  as  it  provided 
new  facilities  and  means,  created  a  new  demand  for 
learning  in  the  ministry,  or  rather  a  demand  for  a 
higher  and  wider  range  of  theological  learning.  Not 


COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE.  1Q5 

only  the  Congregational  churches,  but  the  Presbyte- 
rians of  all  sects  and  schisms,  the  Baptists,  the  Epis- 
copalians, and  the  Methodists,  have  shared  in  the 
great  benefit. 

Another  result  has  been  the  development  of  larger 
views,  and  of  a  more  free,  but  (I  trust)  not  less  rever- 
ent and  Christian  spirit  in  theology.  The  distinctive 
New  England  theology,  as  we  call  it,  beginning  with 
Edwards  and  his  immediate  followers,  was  logical, 
acute,  discriminative,  deferent  to  the  Bible  and  to  no 
authority  beside,  and  earnestly  practical ;  but  it  was  not 
characteristically  learned,  and  therefore  it  had  necessa- 
rily somewhat  of  a  provincial  tone.  It  was  not  in  full 
communication  either  with  the  theology  of  ages  long 
ago,  or  with  the  contemporaneous  theology  of  other 
countries  and  of  other  evangelical  communions.  Ed- 
wards, indeed,  had  a  world-wide  and  perpetual  fame ; 
Bellamy  had  been  read  with  admiration  in  Scotland ; 
Smalley's  work  on  Natural  and  Moral  Inability  had 
been  studied  in  Dutch  universities,  and,  as  the  report 
goes,  had  been  translated  into  some  foreign  language. 
But  something  more  was  wanting,  both  that  what  our 
great  theologians  had  wrought  out  by  their  devout  and 
laborious  reasonings  might  enure  niore  completely  to 
the  benefit  of  the  Church  universal ;  and  that  we  their 
disciples  and  followers,  whom  they  had  led  down  as  it 
were  to  the  bottom  of  a  well  in  their  search  after  truth, 
might  rise  with  that  truth  in  our  possession,  to  enjoy 
it  and  to  proclaim  it  in  a  free  air  and  with  a  wider 
horizon.  Just  this  is  one  of  the  results  which  have 
come  from  the  founding  and  generous  endowment  of 
this  Institution.  The  notorious  fact  that  the  Seminary, 
14 


'106  COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE. 

with  its  great  power  to  do  good,  was  made  possible 
only  by  a  compromise  between  the  New  Divinity  and 
the  Old,  —  the  fact  that  the  Hopkinsians,  for  the  sake 
of  union  with  the  more  moderate  Calvinists,  consented 
to  omit  from*  the  creed  of  the  Seminary  whatever  in 
their  theology  was  particularly  obnoxious  to  their 
brethren,  insisting  only  that  whatever  in  the  letter  of 
the  Catechism  was  contrary  to  their  theology,  should 
be  distinctly  contradicted  or  silently  ignored,  —  could 
not  but  have  an  immediate  effect.  It  had  an  effect  on 
the  first  professor  of  theology  under  that  arrangement. 
So  carefully  and  conscientiously  did  he  cherish  the 
spirit  of  the  compromise ;  so  judiciously  did  he  avoid 
those  extreme  conclusions  in  which  some  Hopkinsians 
delighted,  that  in  a  little  while  the  Old  Divinity  leaven 
was  quietly  purged  out,  and  Andover  theology  had 
become  (quite  to  the  discontent  of  a  few  extremists  on 
both  sides)  a  moderate  Hopkinsianism.  The  same 
Andover  theology  is  substantially  the  New  England 
orthodoxy  of  the  present  day,  —  such  Hopkinsianism  as 
Dwight  taught,  such  orthodoxy  as  Woods  defended  in 
his  controversy  with  "Ware,  before  he  revised  it  for  the 
edition  in  his  collected  Works.  Nor  is  the  compromise 
obsolete.  The  theology  of  the  Abbot  Professorship 
to-day,  if  I  understand  it,  is  the  theology  of  the  Semi- 
nary Creed ;  not  moderate  Calvinism,  not  Calvinism 
with  its  "  fag  ends,"  but  Hopkinsianism  with  the  fag 
ends  trimmed  off  or  out  of  sight. 

Still  more  did  the  study  of  Sacred  Literature,  as 
here  established,  tend  to  give  us  an  orthodoxy  more 
liberal,  more  comprehensive,  and  more  catholic,  because 
more  truly  learned  in  the  Scriptures.  No  doubt  we 


COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE. 


owe  to  the  erudite  and  comprehensive  mind  of  Pearson 
the  original  scheme  of  instruction  in  that  department, 
as  we  have  it  laid  down  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
Seminary.  But  it  was  a  great  day  for  all  theological 
learning  in  this  country,  when  Moses  Stuart  was  dis- 
missed from  his  pastoral  office  in  New  Haven  to  fill 
the  place  which  Pearson,  after  only  one  year  of  service, 
had  vacated.  He  brought  with  him,  indeed,  no  such 
dignity  and  wealth  of  learning,  no  such  celebrity  for 
scholarship,  as  his  predecessor  brought  to  the  founding 
of  the  Seminary.  At  that  time,  his  knowledge  of  Greek 
was  neither  extensive  nor  accurate  ;  and  as  for  Hebrew 
he  knew  so  little  that  in  later  years,  Dr.  Woods  would 
sometimes  boast,  jocosely,  of  having  been  his  teacher 
in  that  language.  But  he  had  what  is  better  than 
learning  or  academic  greatness,  —  an  impulsive  enthusi- 
asm that  delighted  in  communicating  itself  to  kindred 
minds,  and  that  stimulated  him  to  the  acquisition  of  all 
knowledge  that  had  any  bearing  on  the  interpretation 
of  the  Scriptures.  We  have  had  men,  we  have  them 
now,  more  learned  than  he,  and  more  exact  in  the 
details  of  scholarship,  men  that  can  make  better  lexi- 
cons and  grammars  than  he  could,  and  can  digest  their 
learning  into  better  commentaries,  and  can  write  dis- 
quisitions more  ingenious  perhaps  in  their  reasoning  as 
well  as  more  terse  and  classical  in  their  style  ;  but  no 
man  has  ever  done,  and  no  man  hereafter  will  have 
the  opportunity  of  doing,  what  he  did  for  the  advance- 
ment of  Biblical  learning  in  this  country.  He  brought 
into  the  chair  of  his  department  the  Hopkinsian  spirit 
of  earnest  enterprise  and  progress.  He  made  Hopkin- 
sianism  scholarly  and  learned  without  making  it  irrev- 


108  COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE. 

erent  toward  the  Scriptures  on  the  one  hand,  or  tim* 
idly  deferent  to  human  authority  on  the  other.  He 
made  the  first  adventurous  forays  into  the  Biblical  litr 
erature  of  German  universities,  and  enriched  us  with 
the  spoils  of  the  Egyptians.  Others  have  gone  farther 
than  he  in  German  studies,  and  have  penetrated,  as  his 
impatient  and  thoroughly  practical  spirit  could  not 
penetrate,  the  cloudy  mysteries  of  the  Teutonic  philos- 
ophy and  its  relations  to  theology;  but  it  was  his 
teaching  and  his  influence  that  gave  celebrity  to  An- 
dover  as  a  seat  of  sacred  learning,  and  that  led  out  the 
alumni  of  this  Seminary  into  wider  fields  of  theological 
inquiry;  while  his  published  works  wrere,  to  all  the 
churches  that  worship  in  our  mother  tongue,  a  demon- 
stration of  what  such  studies  can  do  for  the  defence 
and  illustration  of  the  truth. 

And  when,  at  a  somewhat  later  date,  the  history  of 
Christianity  became  a  distinct  department  of  study  and 
instruction,  first  under  the  exact  and  learned  Murdock, 
and  afterwards  under  another  Professor,  whose  presence 
to-day  is  greeted  by  so  many  of  his  former  pupils,  there 
was  a  different,  and  perhaps  I  might  say  a  yet  more 
potent  influence  tending  in  the  same  direction.  It  is 
by  tracing  out  the  development  and  changes  of  opin- 
ion in  the  successive  ages  of  Christianity,  —  by  observ- 
ing how  the  great  doctrines  of  the  evangelical  system 
have  been  defined  with  increasing  precision  and  accu- 
racy age  after  age,  and  how  the  living  and  immutable 
truth  has  been  modified  in  its  phasis  and  its  efficacy  by 
the  successive  or  reiterated  errors  which  have  risen  up 
in  conflict  with  it,  —  that  theology  becomes  truly  cath- 
olic, rising  above  provincial  sympathies  and  traditions; 


COMMEMORATIVE  DISCOURSE.       109 

proving  all  things,  holding  fast  that  which  is  good; 
clinging  to  the  ancient  truth,  throwing  away  the  ven- 
erable error;  asserting  with  all  earnestness  the  essential 
faith,  yet  tolerant  of  minor  differences,  not  from  indif- 
ferency  to  the  truth,  but  from  a  deep  and  well-instructed 
sense  of  human  infirmity. 

It  might  be  too  much  to  say  that  the  founding  of 
this  Seminary  arrested  and  turned  back  the  victorious 
progress  of  Unitarianism  in  New  England.  It  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  other  causes  have  had  much 
to  do  with  that  result.  Yet,  surely,  none  of  us,  in 
summing  up  the  results  of  the  event  which  we  are 
commemorating,  can  forget  the  Unitarian  controversy. 
I  will  not  begin  to  rehearse  the  story  of  what  Andover 
has  done  in  the  long  conflict.  A  mere  allusion  to  the 
relations  and  comparative  strength  of  Unitarianism  and 
Orthodoxy  in  New  England  as  they  were  when  Stuart 
published  his  Letters  to  Channing,  and  "Woods  followed 
with  his  Letters  to  Unitarians,  and  to  the  relations  and 
comparative  strength  of  the  two  systems  as  they  are 
now,  will  be  sufficient.  Our  Unitarian  friends,  I  am 
informed,  comfort  themselves  with  the  belief  that  they 
have  gained  the  substance,  if  not  the  form,  of  a  victory, 
inasmuch  as  they  have  found  that  the  Orthodoxy  of 
to-day  differs  from  the  crude  and  atrocious  Calvinism 
against  which  their  system  protested,  and  which  it  was 
expected  to  exterminate.  Orthodoxy,  they  say,  has 
become  liberal,  and  has  renounced  the  horrid  dogmas 
which  it  was  charged  with  holding;  and  therefore 
Unitarianism  may  be  regarded  as  having  accomplished 
its  mission.  Well,  if  they  are  satisfied  with  this  view 
of  the  result,  let  us  be  thankful  for  them  that  they  are 


110  COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE. 

so  easily  satisfied.  Perhaps,  if  they  will  carefully  re- 
examine  what  was  published  on  both  sides  thirty  or 
forty  years  ago,  they  will  find  that  even  then,  while 
the  arguments  on  the  Unitarian  side  were  levelled 
chiefly  against  certain  representations  of  Orthodoxy,  it 
was  one  great  burthen  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  the 
Orthodox  that  their  actual  views  and  doctrines  were 
misrepresented.  If  now  at  last  our  Unitarian  friends 
have  really  learned,  to  their  own  satisfaction,  that  the 
New  England  Orthodoxy  does  not  hold  the  obnoxious 
and  oftrrepudiated  dogmas  which  they  have  so  long 
imputed  to  it,  we  may  thankfully  accept  that  fact  as 
one  more  proof  that  the  world  moves. 

But,  after  all,  the  greatest  and  most  obvious  result  of 
the  founding  of  our  Seminary,  is  that  which  is  suggested 
as  I  look  upon  this  assembly ;  that  which  was  suggested 
as  we  listened  to  the  mortuary  statistics  that  were 
communicated  yesterday.  Who  are  they  that  have 
here  been  taught  and  trained  for  the  service  of  the 
churches,  of  their  country,  and  of  the  world  ?  Where 
are  the  habitations  of  the  living  ?  Where  the  graves 
of  the  dead  ?  What  hath  God  wrought  by  them  who 
have  finished  their  labor?  What  is  he  working  by 
them  who  are  still  bearing  the  heat  and  burthen  of  the 
day  ?  What  great  undertaking  of  associated  benevo- 
lence has  been  originated  within  these  fifty  years, 
which  was  not  conceived  or  nurtured  here?  One 
chief  advantage  of  a  theological  Seminary  is  that  it 
brings  young  men  together,  and  gives  them  the  oppor- 
tunity of  acting  on  each  other  not  only  in  their  studies 
and  theological  inquiries,  but  also  in  their  hopes  and 
plans  of  usefulness,  and  in  their  habits  of  devotion  and 


COMMEMORATIVE      DISCOURSE.  Ill 

of  zeal.  Is  it  not  a  fact  to-day,  that,  after  all,  our  ten- 
derest  and  most  thankful  recollections,  while  we  recall 
the  years  we  passed  upon  this  hallowed  ground,  are 
memories  not  so  much  of  venerated  and  beloved 
Professors,  or  of  what  benefit  we  received  from  their 
lectures  and  counsels,  as  of  classmates  and  contempo- 
raries in  study,  —  of  friendships  formed  and  cherished, 
—  of  meetings  for  prayer  and  religious  conference, — 
of  long  and  grave  inquiries  about  personal  duty  in 
relation  to  the  missionary  work,  at  home  or  among  the 
heathen,  —  of  investigations  about  fields  of  missionary 
labor,  and  about  plans  and  projects  of  Christian  enter- 
prise, —  of  rambles  over  these  hills,  or  walks  along 
these  quiet  paths,  side  by  side  with  companions  who 
are  now  growing  old  perhaps  with  us,  or  who  perhaps 
went  long  ago  where  youth  is  never  overtaken  by 
decay,  —  of  renewed  self-consecration  to  our  Lord  and 
to  our  work,  —  of  privileged  hours  when  brighter 
views  of  our  Kedeemer's  glory,  and  of  the  blessedness 
of  self-sacrifice  beamed  on  our  souls,  and  in  the  glow  of 
some  new  quickening  from  on  high,  we  prayed,  "  Thy 
kingdom  come ! "  This,  brethren,  this  is  what  spreads 
around  us  here  a  beauty  far  transcending  the  outward 
beauty  of  grove  and  grassy  lawn,  of  hill  and  rock,  of 
sky  and  crimson  sunset,  —  a  glory  which  is  invisible 
perhaps  to  other  eyes  than  ours,  but  which  to  us  is 
like  the  glory  of  the  holy  mount. 

Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  this  Seminary  was 
founded  in  the  faith  that  looks  and  prays  for  an 
approaching  millennium.  One  characteristic  of  the 
New  England  divinity  from  its  birth  in  the  great  relig- 
ious awakening  of  1740,  has  ever  been  its  hopeful  and 


112  COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE. 

inspiring  faith  in  the  Divine  promises  of  a  coming  age 
for  which  all  the  ages  are  groaning  and  travailing  in 
pain  together  until  now,  —  an  age  when  the  Gospel 
shall  have  been  preached  to  every  creature,  and  when 
the  victory  of  Christ  over  the  ancient  darkness  and 
wickedness  of  the  world  shall  be  complete  and  univer- 
sal. I  will  not  undertake  to  show  what  latent  con- 
nection there  is  between  this  practical  doctrine  of  the 
millennium  and  the  other  improvements  in  divinity 
upon  which  the  Edwardses  and  Bellamy  and  Hopkins 
labored ;  but  I  have  observed  in  various  instances  that 
a  defection  from  our  general  theory  or  system  of  the 
doctrines  of  grace  toward  another  system  which  calls 
itself  Calvinism  and  reputes  itself  the  only  orthodoxy, 
is  accompanied  by  a  loss  of  this  cheerful  and  sustaining 
hope  in  the  coming  age  of  the  Redeemer's  universal 
victory  and  dominion.  But  we,  brethren,  hold  the  faith 
in  which  this  institution  was  founded,  —  the  faith  in 
which  New  England  itself  was  planted,  —  the  faith  in 
a  millennium  ever  drawing  nigh,  which  is  to  be  brought 
in  as  the  answer  to  the  prayers  of  God's  elect  and  the 
glorious  consummation  of  their  labors.  It  is  our  priv- 
ilege to  see  God  and  a  victorious  Redeemer  in  all  the 
changes  of  this  memorable  century,  the  most  memo- 
rable of  merely  human  history.  Oh  how  many,  and 
how  signal  have  those  changes  been  within  the  last 
fifty  years!  In  the  discoveries  of  science,  in  the 
inventions  of  art,  in  the  achievements  of  industry,  in 
the  rise  and  fall  of  empires,  in  the  march  of  civilized 
emigration,  converting  old  wildernesses  into  fruitful 
fields,  in  the  new  forces  that  are  bringing  all  nations 
into  mutual  proximity,  we  see  the  providence  of  God 


COMMEMORATIVE     DISCOURSE.  113 

preparing  the  earth  for  the  glory  with  which  it  is  yet 
to  be  adorned  by  his  renewing  Spirit.  Under  what 
brightening  auspices  of  hope  for  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
does  our  Seminary  enter  to-day  upon  the  second  half 
of  its  first  century  of  life  !  This  memorable  year  of 
the  outpouring  of  God's  grace,  —  this  year  of  religious 
awakening  spread  almost  simultaneously  from  Plymouth 
Eock  to  the  Golden  Gate, — is  the  promise  to  us  of 
what  God  will  have  wrought  in  his  providence  and  by 
his  Spirit,  when,  in  the  eighth  year  of  the  twentieth 
Christian  century,  the  children  of  some  of  us,  and  the 
remoter  descendants  of  others,  shall  be  assembled  from 
the  East  and  the  West,  from  the  North  and  the  South, 
from  Europe  and  Africa,  from  Asia  and  the  Isles,  to 
celebrate  with  prayer  and  praise,  and  with  exultant 
commemoration,  the  second  jubilee  at  Andover. 

We  too  will  be  here,  as  the  holy  dead  are  here  to- 
day. Shall  we  not  be  here  in  their  grateful  recollec- 
tion of  what  God  wrought  by  us  before  we  rested  from 
our  labors,  and  in  our  immortal  partnership  with  Christ 
in  his  conflicts  and  his  victories  ? 
15 


114          PROF.    BARROWS'S     INAUGURATION. 

Immediately  after  this  Discourse,  Hon.  William  J. 
Hubbard,  of  Boston,  President  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, gave  a  brief  statement  of  the  recent  endowment 
of  a  new  Professorship  in  the  Seminary,  entitled  the 
Hitchcock  Professorship  of  the  Hebrew  Language  and 
Literature — in  honor  of  the  principal  donor,  Samuel  A. 
Hitchcock,  Esq.,  of  Brimfield,  Mass.,  who,  through  his 
friend  Hon.  Linus  Child,  of  Lowell,  had  tendered  to  the 
Board  for  this  purpose  the  sum  of  $15,000,  upon  the  con- 
dition that  the  Trustees  would  appropriate  the  further 
sum  of  $10,000,  from  funds  now  under  their  control,  to 
complete  the  endowment,  and  also  satisfactorily  com- 
plete the  effort  which  they  had  been  making  to  obtain 
a  subscription  of  $30,000  in  Boston  and  vicinity,  to  in- 
crease the  salaries  of  the  Professors. 

With  this  preface  Mr.  Hubbard  announced  to  the 
audience  that  Rev.  Dr.  Barrows,  who  had  for  some  years 
filled  an  unendowed  and  temporary  Professorship  in  this 
department  of  instruction,  would  now  be  inducted  into 
the  new  office  as  Hitchcock  Professor ;  and  the  cere- 
monies of  inauguration,  deriving  a  special  dignity  from 
the  occasion,  appropriately  closed  the  memorable  scene. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  on  their  ar- 
rival at  the  Mansion  House,  it  was  unanimously 

"  Voted,  That  the  cordial  thanks  of  this  Board  be 
presented  to  Rev.  Dr.  Bacon  for  his  comprehensive,  dis- 
criminating, and  faithful  discourse,  reciting  the  history 
of  the  foundation  of  this  Seminary,  and  the  philan- 
thropic and  Christian  work  of  the  honored  men  who 
devoted  their  wealth  to  the  cause  of  sacred  learning, 
and  that  he  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy  for  publica- 
tion." 

The  successive  railway  trains  continued  to  bring  in 


THE    DINNER.  115 

additional  numbers  of  the  clergy  and  laity,  in  anticipa- 
tion of  a  rare  intellectual  feast  at  the  public  dinner,  to 
which  the  company  were  invited  to  repair  in  procession 
from  the  Mansion  House,  at  one  o'clock. 

The  large  tent  —  eighty-five  feet  square  —  though 
provided  for  some  of  the  previous  gatherings  also,  was 
procured  more  especially  for  this  collation. 

A  platform  had  been  erected  on  the  westerly  side  of 
the  area  beneath  the  tent,  upon  which  were  tables  for 
the  Trustees,  Visitors,  Faculty,  and  a  few  others  — 
space  being  still  left  in  front  sufficient  for  the  speaking. 
On  the  right  and  left  of  the  platform,  and  far  down  to- 
wards  the  eastern  entrance,  were  tables  for  about  six 
hundred,  so  arranged  that  when  the  speaking  should 
commence,  no  change  of  seats  would  be  required  to 
enable  every  guest  to  hear  and  see  the  speakers.  As 
soon  as  the  company  were  seated,  the  sides  of  the  tent 
were  rolled  up  on  account  of  the  excessive  heat,  and  for 
the  sake  of  giving  the  multitude  of  spectators  an  op- 
portunity to  enjoy  the  scence.  About  fifty  ladies  were 
also  admitted,  by  tickets,  to  seats  near  the  platform  re- 
served for  the  purpose. 

After  the  divine  blessing  had  been  invoked  by  Kev. 
Dr.  Storrs,  of  Braintree,  the  ample  but  frugal  collation, 
tastefully  spread  and  neatly  served,  was  duly  enjoyed ; 
but  it  was  manifestly  not  for  this  that  the  guests  had 
come  ;  they  were  eager  to  have  the  later  and  richer  feast 
begin ;  and  even  before  the  tables  could  be  properly 
cleared,  the  appointed  exercises  commenced. 

The  programme  for  the  afternoon  was  committed  to 
the  President,  Hon.  William  J.  Hubbard,  who  made  a 
brief  introductory  address. 

He  said  that  the  Trustees  of  the  Seminary  were  entitled 


116         HON.  w.  j.  ii u BEARD'S   ADDRESS. 

by  the  statutes  to  have  a  "  decent,  but  not  extravagant  enter- 
tainment," at  their  meetings,  and  they  had  invited  the  Alumni 
to  partake  of  such  a  repast  with  them ;  that,  in  now  inviting 
them  to  the  "feast  of  reason"  which  they  were  anticipating, 
he  hardly  knew  how  to  address  such  an  assembly,  not  being 
himself  of  their  profession,  but  hoped  he  should  not  do  like 
the  distinguished  lawyer  who  once  presided  at  a  dinner  in 
Yale  College,  and  while  waxing  warm  in  his  speech,  began 
to  say,  "  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,"  and  received  the  merriment 
it  occasioned  as  evidence  of  his  taking  speech. 

Some  of  those  before  him,  he  remarked,  were  younger  than 
himself,  others  were  reverend  fathers  ;  some  had  come 

"From  India's  coral  strand," 
And  others  from 

"  Where  Afric's  sunny  fountains 
Eoll  down  their  golden  sand  ; " 

but  he  would  welcome  all,  in  the  name  of  the  Trustees,  to 
these  intellectual  festivities,  in  which  we  might  be  considered 
as  celebrating  the  "  golden  wedding  "  of  the  two  parties  that 
were  here  united  fifty  years  .ago. 

Eev.  Dr.  Thayer,  of  Newport,  K.  I.,  here  rose  and 
moved  "  that  the  thanks  of  the  Alumni  be  tendered  to 
Dr.  Bacon,  for  his  excellent  Commemorative  Discourse, 
and  that  a  copy  of  the  same  be  requested  of  him  for 
the  press;"  which  was  seconded  by  Dr.  Dickinson,  of 
Boston,  and  unanimously  passed. 

Dr.  Bacon  briefly  acknowledged  the  compliment.  He 
said  it  was  unexpected  to  him ;  his  aim  in  the  discourse 
had  been  to  be  strictly  accurate  and  impartial,  and  he 
was  pleased  to  find  that  what  he  had  prepared  was  so 
cordially  received. 


HON.    JO  SI  AH     QUINCY'S    ADDRESS.  117 

He  hoped  the  occasion  would  have  a  salutary  effect 
upon  all  present ;  knitting  more  closely  together  the  ties 
of  ancient  brotherhood  and  affection,  and  preparing  all 
to  work  more  effectively  in  their  spheres  of  duty. 


Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  Senior,  —  who  was  a  student  in 
Phillips  Academy,  during  iis  first  term,  eighty  years  ago, 
a  relative  of  the  Phillipses,  ancl  for  many  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Trustees ;  whose  presence  on  the 
occasion  had  been  specially  requested,  in  the  hope  that 
the  tongue  of  "  the  old  man  eloquent "  would  be  loosed 
in  such  an  hour  of  stirring  memories,  —  was  now  an- 
nounced to  the  audience,  and  made  the  following  brief 


ADDRESS. 

My  day  for  making  after-dinner  speeches  is  past,  but  from 
intimations  that  I  might  be  called  upon  I  resolved  to  avail 
myself  of  this  opportunity  to  offer  a  brief  tribute  to  the  mem- 
ory of  the  first  Founders  of  this  Institution.  They  were  my 
relatives.  No  man  living  can  have  the  same  knowledge  of 
them  which  I  possess.  I  have  been  an  inmate  in  every  one 
of  their  families,  and  have  participated  in  their  devotions 
before  religion  had  passed  from  the  domestic  altar  to  the 
retirement  of  the  mind.  Their  father,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Phil- 
lips, of  Andover,  was  settled  over  this  parish  in  the  year  1710, 
on  a  small  parsonage,  and  with  an  annual  salary  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  dollars.  Impressed  with  gratitude  for  this 
munificent  provision  for  himself  and  family,  after  acknowl- 
edgment in  prayer,  he  solemnly  devoted  ten  per  cent,  of  this 
great  income  to  purposes  of  charity.  From  a  record  I  have 
seen,  and  which  probably  still  exists,  it  appears  that  he  con- 
tinued this  appropriation  until  his  death  in  1771 ;  and  yet 


118        HON.  JOSIAH   QUINCY'S   ADDRESS. 

left  a  considerable  estate  for  that  period  out  of  the  savings  of 
his  salary.  His  three  sons  were  alike  in  general  character. 
The  eldest,  Samuel,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1734,  and 
died  in  1790.  The  second,  John,  founder  of  Phillips  Exeter 
Academy,  was  graduated  in  1735,  and  died  in  1795.  The 
youngest,  William,  had  not  a  college  education.  He  was  born 
in  1722,  and  died  in  1804.  They  were  all  exemplary  in  social' 
moral,  and  religious  life ;  diligent  in  business ;  economical,  in 
the  strictest  sense  of  that  word.  All  were  prosperous.  Each 
accumulated  a  fortune,  according  to  the  standard  of  the 
period. 

Samuel  Phillips,  jun.,  the  son  of  the  eldest,  concentrated  in 
himself  the  affections  of  all  the  brothers.  His  zeal,  talents, 
and  consentaneous  piety,  enkindled  and  excited  into  activity 
the  inherent  charitable  and  public  spirit  of  the  whole  family. 
I  was  well  acquainted  with  him  —  intimately,  as  far  as  differ- 
ence in  our  age  and  pursuits  permitted.  I  should  rejoice,  if 
the  occasion  allowed,  to  give  utterance  to  my  deep  sense  of 
his  many  virtues, —  of  a  life  devoted  to  every  lofty  design, 
active  in  every  generous  purpose,  foremost  in  fulfilling  every 
duty,  in  private  life,  the  legislative  Hall,  or  on  the  Bench ;  for 
twenty  years  the  presiding  officer  of  the  State  Senate,  and, 
when  he  died,  Lieutenant- Govern  or  of  the  Commonwealth ; 
in  whose  character,  without  ostentation  or  display,  was  beau- 
tifully illustrated  the  power  of  the  religious  principle,  in  stim- 
ulating, directing,  and  giving  success  to  every  useful  and 
elevated  purpose  of  private  and  public  life. 

But  time  warns  me,  and  I  must  abstain.  It  is  sufficient 
for  his  memory,  that,  notwithstanding  his  comparative  youth, 
his  virtues  and  influence  were  so  active  and  conspicuous  that, 
with  the  entire  approbation  of  the  three  chief  Founders,  pub- 
lic sentiment  invested  him  with  a  full  share,  perhaps  with 
more  than  a  full  share,  of  the  merit  of  establishing  this 
Institution. 

Although  at  its  outset  it  was  but  a  classical  school,  authen- 
tic documents  exist  which  indicate  that  the  ultimate  views  of 


HON.    JO  SI  AH     QUINCY'S     ADDRESS.  119 

its  founders  extended  to  the  erection  upon  it  of  a  Theological 
Seminary.  In  this  State  the  Academy  remained  from  1778, 
when  it  was  opened,  until  1807.  After  the  death  of  Lieut. 
Gov.  Phillips,  his  collegiate  friend,  Eliphalet  Pearson,  who 
with  him,  had  formed  the  Constitution  of  the  Seminary,  and 
had  been  its  first  Preceptor,  being  chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  ascertained  that  at  Newburyport,  Messrs.  Bartlet, 
Brown,  and  Norris,  in  concurrence  with  Drs.  Spring  and 
Woods,  were  contemplating  the  foundation  of  a  Theo- 
logical Institution  to  give  power  and  perpetuation  to  their 
own  religious  views.  He  saw  the  opportunity  was  favor- 
able to  carry  into  effect  the  original  design  of  the  foun- 
ders of  Phillips  Academy,  and  set  himself  at  work  to  induce 
Dr.  Spring  and  his  associates  to  unite  their  funds  with  those 
of  Phillips  Academy  in  one  great  Theological  Institution. 
The  difficulty  of  success  in  this  project  was  intrinsic,  and  ap- 
parently insurmountable.  For  it  was  well  known  that  the 
religious  views  of  these  associates  were  not  precisely  coincident 
with  the  views  of  the  founders  of  the  Academy,  as  expressed 
in  its  Constitution;  and,  of  all  materials,  religious  diversi- 
ties are  least  malleable  or  infusible  into  one  another.  Noth- 
ing daunted,  however,  he  persevered.  He  saw  the  advantage 
which  would  result  to  religion  and  learning  if  both  Institu- 
tions could  be  united  in  one,  and  entered  upon  the  design  with 
his  characteristic  spirit.  Determined  to  succeed,  he  shrunk 
from  no  labor.  He  told  me  himself,  that  it  cost  him  thirty-six 
journeys  to  Newburyport  to  effect  that  union.  His  zeal  and 
perseverance  were  irresistible.  What  no  other  man  would 
have  dared  to  attempt,  with  any  hope  of  success,  he  effected. 
Whatever  good  has  resulted,  or  shall  result,  from  the  mere 
fact  of  this  union,  the  merit  of  establishing  it  belongs  to 
Eliphalet  Pearson.  I  speak  without  reserve.  I  had  better 
opportunities  of  knowing  his  principles,  motives,  and  causes 
of  success,  perhaps,  than  any  other  man.  I  was  eight  years 
—  from  1778  to  1786  —  his  pupil,  four  years  under  his 
instruction  in  College.  Afterwards  through  life  I  had  fre- 


120  REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS. 

quent  intercourse  with  him.  In  1808,  as  a  Trustee  of  the 
Academy,  I  witnessed  his  zeal,  his  labors,  and  the  untiring 
spirit  with  which  he  pursued,  until  he  succeeded  in  effecting 
the  cherished  object  of  his  heart.  After  his  retirement  from 
the  government  of  the  Seminary,  he  made  me  the  confidant 
of  his  opinions  and  feelings  concerning  it.  I  mean  no  dis- 
paragement to  Dr.  Spring  and  his  associates.  The  Institu- 
tion is  an  ever-enduring  monument  of  their  zeal  for  religion 
and  their  munificence.  But  I  owe  it  to  truth  and  to  the 
memory  of  Dr.  Pearson,  to  declare,  that  his  influence  and 
power  effected  the  desired  union,  and  fixed  the  locality  of 
this  Theological  Seminary. 

My  purpose  is  attained.  To  some,  and,  in  a  manner,  to 
all  of  the  men  of  whom  I  have  spoken  as  early  founders  of 
this  Institution,  I  owe,  directly  or  consecutively,  whatever  I 
am  and  whatever  I  possess.  I  am  happy  in  the  opportunity 
which  has  been  given  me  thus  publicly  to  express  my  sense 
of  their  merits,  and  my  gratitude. 


The  Treasurer  of  the  Board,  Kev.  J.  L.  Taylor,  had 
been  requested  to  prepare  a  concise  sketch  of  the 
endowments  of  the  Corporation,  and  of  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal donors,  in  connection  with  their  various  gifts,  espec- 
ially the  Phillips  Family ;  and,  on  being  here  intro- 
duced, connected  his  statement  with  the  preceding 
eulogy  of  Mr.  Quincy,  in  the  following 


ADDRESS. 

The  Committee  of  arrangements  have  assigned  to  me  on 
this  occasion  —  chiefly  on  account  of  my  official  relations  to 
the  Seminary,  doubtless,  rather  than  for  any  other  reason  — 
a  subject  which  naturally  divides  itself  into  two  topics  —  the 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS.  121 

Phillipscs  and  the  Finances.  And  here,  for  my  own  sake  and 
yours,  I  most  heartily  congratulate  you  that  so  large  a  part 
of  my  first  topic  has  been  so  well  anticipated  by  the  tribute 
to  which  we  have  just  listened  from  our  venerable  and  elo- 
quent friend.  In  addition  to  his  just  and  life-like  sketches  of 
those  ornaments  of  the  Phillips  Family,  I  need  to  say  little 
in  connection  with  this  occasion ;  yet  a  few  words  may  serve 
to  bring  out  still  more  prominently  the  indebtedness  of  the 
corporation  to  this  distinguished  name. 

In  tracing  these  obligations  to  the  Phillipses,  we  do  not 
attempt  to  go  farther  back  than  to  the  Rev.  George  Phillips, 
who  came  to  this  country  in  the  same  ship  wTith  Governor 
Winthrop,  and  settled  at  "Watertown,  where,  after  fourteen 
years  of  successful  labor  in  the  ministry,  he  died  suddenly, 
at  the  age  of  51,  leaving  his  traits  of  character  strongly  im- 
pressed on  all  who  knew  him,  but  especially  upon  his  family. 

The  curious  epitaph  of  Cotton  Mather  commemorates 
him  as  one  excelled  only  by  his  distinguished  son : 

"  Vir  incomparabilis,  nisi 
Samuelem  genuisset ! " 

This  incomparable  son, —  Rev.  Samuel  Phillips,  of  Rowley 
—  whom  his  father  had  brought,  at  five  years  of  age,  to  this 
country,  and  had  here  educated  with  great  care,  inherited 
and  transmitted  his  characteristic  virtues,  and,  after  more 
than  forty  years  of  faithful  labor  in  the  pastoral  office,  died, 
leaving  a  numerous  family. 

His  eldest  son,  Samuel,  established  himself  in  business  as 
a  goldsmith,  at  Salem,  while  a  younger  brother,  George,  was 
educated  at  Harvard,  and  spent  a  long  and  successful  min- 
istry on  Long  Island. 

The  goldsmith's  son  Samuel  was  the  Rev.  Samuel  Phil- 
lips, of  Andover,  to  whom  our  honored  friend  Mr.  Quincy 
has  alluded,  the  father  of  the  three  distinguished  brothers 
who  so  liberally  endowed  Phillips  Academy,  under  the  fore- 

1(3 


122  REV.  ME.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS. 

casting  and  persuasive  influence  of  his  grandson,  Samuel 
Phillips,  Jr. 

To  this  young  man  both  of  these  Institutions  are  preemi- 
nently indebted.  No  tribute  can  do  justice  to  him.  A  model 
in  almost  every  virtue ;  a  miracle  of  activity ;  filling  a  great 
variety  of  stations,  and  adorning  each  more  than  it  could 
honor  him — the  favorite  work  of  his  life  was  the  founding  of 
this  Academy,  which  bears  his  family  name,  and  over  which, 
from  its  origin  to  his  decease,  he  watched  with  a  parental 
eye. 

In  one  of  the  earliest  drafts  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
Academy,  written  by  his  hand  on  a  loose  leaf,  which  I  here 
show  you,  evidently  as  an  after-thought,  to  be  inserted  at  a 
point  marked  by  him  in  the  manuscript,  we  find  the  germ  of 
this  Theological  Seminary;  and,  in  accordance  with  this 
paragraph,  a  distinct  course  of  theological  instruction  was 
finally  given  to  students  in  the  Academy  for  a  succession  of 
years.  About  twenty  such  candidates  for  the  ministry  were 
instructed  in  the  Academy  before  the  opening  of  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  one  of  whom l  we  have  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  with  us  to-day. 

An  aged  man  of  this  town,  once  the  confidential  clerk  of 
Judge  Phillips,  still  relates  a  conversation  which  they  at  one 
time  held,  sitting  under  the  old  oak  in  the  rear  of  yonder 
Chapel,  in  regard  to  the  future  College,  which  was  to  be  built 
on  the  very  site  of  the  present  range  of  Seminary  buildings. 

It  was,  therefore,  but  continuing  and  completing  the  spirit 
of  his  life-long  plans,  when  his  widow  and  son  entered  fore- 
most and  heartily  into  the  work  of  endowing  a  distinct  The- 
ological Department,  to  be  connected  with  the  Academy, 
under  the  same  Board  of  Trustees. 

Nor  can  I  now  pass  from  him  without  adverting  more  dis- 
tinctly, for  a  moment,  to  that  honor  to  her  sex,  Madam  Phil- 
lips. Entering  with  enthusiasm  into  all  his  educational 

1  Rev.  Mr.  Kimball,  of  Ipswich. 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS.  123 

plans,  she  was  well  worthy  of  the  honor  of  helping  so 
greatly  to  enlarge  them ;  and  the  zeal  and  prayerfulness  with 
which  she  put  her  hand  to  this  work,  with  her  brilliant  and 
honored  son,  have  embalmed  her  in  the  grateful  memory  of 
every  friend  of  these  seats  of  learning.  I  am  sure  if  any- 
thing to-day  could  unseal  the  lips  of  our  venerated  friend, 
Mr.  Farrar,  it  would  be  some  impulse  of  his  ever  fresh  desire 
to  pay  a  tribute  to  her  rare  virtues,  knowing"  her  as  he  did  so 
long  and  intimately.1 

To  Mr.  Farrar  himself,  also,  in  this  connection,  we  owe  a 
word,  which  we  ought  not  to  suppress  because  of  his  pres- 
ence. Associated  with  her  as  he  was  in  every  step  con- 
nected with  the  origin  of  the  Seminary,  and  also  with  Mr. 
Abbott,  Mr.  Bartlet,  and  others,  drafting  with  his  careful 
hand  many  of  the  instruments  under  which  our  trusts  are 
held, —  particularly  whatever  relates  to  the  Board  of  Visitors, 
—  and  administering  the  affairs  of  his  arduous  office  as 
Treasurer  with  the  strictest  integrity  and  great  ability,  as 
well  as  disinterestedness,  he  has  earned  a  claim  to  the  grati- 
tude of  every  friend  to  the  Institution  which  no  time  can 
obliterate. 

Through  yet  other  and  remoter  links,  too,  the  connection  of 
the  Phillip ses  with  the  Seminary,  as  well  as  the  Academy,  is 

1  Madam  Phoebe  Phillips  was  the  daughter  of  Hon.  Francis  Foxcroft,  of 
Cambridge.  She  was  born  Aug.  12,  1743,  and  died  Oct.  31,  1812,  at  the 
house  of  her  friend  Mr.  Farrar,  in  full  view  of  the  edifices  which  she 
had  erected  for  the  Institution,  and  with  a  heart  glowing  with  interest  in  the 
enterprise  to  her  latest  breath. 

Her  son,  Col.  John  Phillips,  who  joined  her  in  the  endowment  of  the 
Seminary,  was  born  Oct.  18,  1776,  and  died  in  Sept.,  1820,  leaving  a  nu- 
merous family,  a  portion  of  which  yet  occupy  the  old  mansion  at  North 
Andover.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  accomplished  education  and  manners, 
ardent  and  enterprising,  an  eloquent  speaker,  and  a  citizen  of  enlarged 
public  spirit ;  and,  as  the  only  surviving  son  of  parents  so  much  honored, 
was,  for  their  sake  and  his  own,  greatly  esteemed  by  the  large  circle  in  which 
they  had  moved. 


124  REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS. 

worthy  of  note.  His  Honor  William  Phillips,  of  Boston,1 
son  of  the  younger  of  the  three  brothers  who  first  endowed 
the  Academy,  was  a  large  and  frequent  donor  to  both  Insti- 
tutions, and  left  liberal  bequests  to  each  in  his  will.  A 
brother  of  Madam  Phillips,  John  Foxcroft,  Esq.,  of  Cam- 
bridge, gave  the  Academy  a  valuable  tract  of  wild  land  in 
Maine. 

Samuel  Abbot,  Esq.,  of  Andover,  who  endowed  the  Ab- 
bot Professorship  and  made  the  Seminary  his  residuary 
legatee,  was  a  grandson  of  the  goldsmith  at  Salem.  Mrs. 
Moses  Brown,  of  Newburyport,2  herself  a  frequent  contrib- 

1  Lt.  Gov.  William  Phillips  was  the  son  of  Hon.  William  Phillips,  of  Bos- 
ton, the  youngest  of  the  three  sons  of  Rev.  Samuel  Phillips,  of  Andover. 
He  was  born  in  1750,  and  died  in  1827 ;  he  was  much  in  civil  service,  but 
was  especially  distinguished  for  his  piety  and  munificent  liberality.     In  all 
the  plans  and  efforts  of  his  eminent  cousin,  Lt.  Gov.  Samuel  Phillips,  at 
Andover,  for  the  Academy,  as  well  as  in  the  later  counsels  and  endeavors 
with  regard  to  the  Seminary,  he  bore  a  conspicuous  and  zealous  part. 

2  In  a  note  to  the  discourse  of  Dr.  Woods,  upon  the  occasion  of  Mr. 
Brown's  death,  is  the  annexed  tribute  to  Mrs.  Brown : 

"Mrs.  Mary  Brown,  the  wife  of  Moses  Brown,  Esq.,  died  Aug.  11,  1821. 
Her  death  has,  with  good  reason,  been  considered  a  public  as  well  as  a  pri- 
vate calamity.  She  was  through  life  distinguished  for  the  sweetness  of  her 
temper  and  the  serenity  of  her  mind.  Her  kindness  and  discretion,  in  the 
various  relations  of  domestic  life,  were  such  as  not  only  to  secure  the  highest 
affection  and  esteem  of  her  particular  friends,  but  to  afford  an  example 
worthy  to  be  copied  by  all.  In  the  innumerable  hospitalities  and  private 
charities  of  Mr.  Brown  and  his  family,  she  was  not  only  an  assistant,  but 
generally  led  the  way.  In  the  acts  of  public  munificence  which  this  excel- 
lent man  so  often  performed  she  gave  him  her  ready  and  entire  concur- 
rence. With  all  her  deeds  of  beneficence  she  ever  had  a  singular  modesty 
and  desire  of  concealing  what  she  did.  One  might  be  an  inmate  in  her 
house  for  weeks  and  not  know  how  many  of  the  poor  daily  went  from  her 
dwelling,  furnished  with  some  comfort  for  their  destitute  condition.  The 
connection  of  this  amiable  woman  with  her  husband  was,  as  we  should  natu- 
rally suppose,  attended  with  the  sinccrest  affection,  and  with  happiness  in 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS.  125 

utor  to  relieve  the  current  wants  of  the  Institution,  —  whose 
husband  was  one  of  the  three  Associate  Founders,  and,  be- 
sides this  endowed  the  chair  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  and 
whose  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Sarah  W.  Hale,  has  given  a  house 
for  the  use  of  this  professorship,  and  in  other  ways  liberally 
aided  the  Seminary, — was  a  great-granddaughter  of  the  same 
Mr.  Phillips,  the  goldsmith. 

So  largely  and  variously  have  these  Institutions  shared  in 
the  outflowing  munificence  of  this  remarkable  family,  while 
every  community  that  has  been  blessed  by  their  agencies,  has 
heard  of  their  name,  and  delighted  to  honor  it. 

But  I  must  not  consume  the  time  in  further  statements 
here  respecting  these  early  and  cherished  friends. 

Of  the  Finances  I  have  space  to  speak  in  outline  only? 
and  in  general  terms. 

The  endowments  of  the  Academy,  which  are  almost 
wholly  the  gift  of  different  members  of  the  Phillips  Family, 
have  amounted,  in  round  numbers,  to  $100,000 ;  of  which 


an  eminent  degree.  The  advance  of  old  age,  instead  of  rendering  this 
venerable  couple  less  ardent  in  their  attachment  to  each  other,  plainly  ren- 
dered them  more  so.  No  wonder,  then,  that  when  she  was  removed  by 
death,  Mr.  Brown  felt  a  deep  and  lasting  wound,  and  was  inconsolable  by 
anything  which  earth  could  afford.  But  he  did  not  mourn  for  her  as  one 
without  hope.  For  several  years  before  her  death  she  had  been  earnestly 
attending  to.  the  subject  of  religion,  and  had  before  her  last  sickness  attained 
to  a  comfortable,  though  a  humble  and  trembling  hope  of  an  interest  in 
the  Saviour.  During  her  last  illness  she  expressed  a  deep  regret  that  she 
had  not  before  made  a  public  profession  of  her  faith  in  Christ,  and  wished 
others  to  take  warning  not  to  follow  her  example  in  this  respect. 

Her  friends  indeed  regret  that  she  had  not  openly  professed  that  religion 
which  she  had  so  long  adorned  by  her  virtues.  Her  memory  is  precious. 
The  blessing  of  many  who  have  been  in  want  and  woe,  and  have  found 
relief  at  her  hands,  rests  upon  her.  "  Precious  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  is 
the  death  of  his  saints." 


126  REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS. 

$40,000  have  been  expended  in  the  erection  of  buildings, 
and  $60,000  remain  in  lands  and  productive  funds,  from  the 
income  of  which  about  one-half  of  the  current  expenses  of  the 
school  is  defrayed,  the  remainder  being  met  by  the  term  bills. 

For  the  endowment  of  the  Theological  Seminary  there 
have  been  given  in  all  about  $450,000.  Of  this  sum,  not 
far  from  $125,000  were  absorbed  in  providing  this  array  of 
public  buildings  and  Professors'  residences,  with  the  grounds 
adjacent,  thus  entailing  at  once  a  heavy  annual  expense  for 
repairs,  insurance,  etc.,  and  leaving  for  current  use  only 
$325,000.  It  is  also  one  peculiarity  in  the  financial  history 
of  the  Institution,  that  the  larger  part  of  all  these  funds  has 
been  devoted  and  restricted,  by  the  several  donors,  to  certain 
specific  uses,  from  which  they  cannot  be  diverted.  Thus, 
for  instance,  with  the  newly  endowed  Hitchcock  Professor- 
ship, $125,000  are  set  apart  by  statute  for  the  regular  support 
of  the  five  Professors ;  and  the  Boston  Fund  of  $30,000,  re- 
cently subscribed,  is  given  for  the  same  express  object  — 
making  a  total  of  $155,000  for  this  purpose. 

In  like  manner,  the  Library  has  been  specially  favored  by 
several  donors,  and  $20,000  are  held  for  its  exclusive  in- 
crease. So  the  hand  of  Christian  sympathy  has  been  ex- 
tended to  the  indigent  students  ;  and  beneficiary  funds,  in  the 
form  of  scholarships  and  otherwise,  for  their  aid,  have  been 
provided,  amounting  to  $30,000. 

Liberal  as  the  endowment  of  the  Institution  has  been, 
therefore  —  especially  for  the  times  in  which  it  originated  — 
the  first  generous  outlay  on  buildings  and  grounds,  with  this 
careful  appropriation  of  most  of  the  remaining  funds  to 
these  and  other  specific  objects,  has  required  a  rigid  economy 
in  the  use  of  what  is  left  for  general  and  contingent  pur- 
poses, and  of  late  years  has  compelled  the  Trustees  to  ap- 
peal to  the  public  for  aid. 

But  while,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  Institution,  as  a 
beneficiary  establishment,  with  the  vigorous  growth  it  has 
had,  its  prosperity  has  increased  its  financial  wants, —  and 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS.  127 

must  continue  to  do  so  —  the  work  which  has  been  done  for 
it  is  fitted  to  excite  our  admiration,  especially  the  munifi- 
cence of  its  earlier  and  larger  benefactors. 
Allow  me  to  recite  a  few  of  the  items : 

Madame  Phillips  and  her  son  gave  Phillips  Hall  and  a  Stew- 
ard's house  which  stood  in  the  rear ;  cost  about      $20,000 
Mr.   Abbot  endowed  the  Abbot  Professorship,  and 
left  the  bulk  of  his  estate  to  the  Institution  by  his 
will,  making  an  aggregate,  including  the  house 
for  his  Professorship,  erected  from  the  avails  of 

his  legacy,  of  about $110,000 

Mr.  Bartlet  gave   one   half  of  the  original 

Associate  Fund,         ....         $20,000 
Afterwards,  in  order  to  make  the  endow- 
ment of  one  of  the  Professorships  con- 
templated  in   this   donation  wholly  his 
own  work,  he  added,         .         .         .  15,000 

He  erected  also  the  Chapel,  Bartlet  Hall, 
and  three  houses  for  Professors,  besides 
purchasing  the  lands  connected  with 
them,  at  an  aggregate  cost  of  .  .  75,000 

And  then  left  here  by  his  wilt  a  legacy  of       50,000 

$160,000 

Mr.  Brown  contributed  to  the  Associate 

Foundation,  ....  $10,000 

And  subsequently  endowed  the  Professor- 
ship of  Ecclesiastical  History,  .  25,000 

$35,000 

Mr.  Norris  gave  with  the  other  Associate 

Founders, $10,000 

And  Mrs.  Norris's  legacy,  to  increase  this 
endowment  was,  ....  30,000 

-  $40,000 

His  Honor  William  Phillips's  legacy  for 
the  increase  of  the  Library,  under  certain 
conditions,  was  ....  $5,000 

And  for  the  aid  of  indigent  students,     .  5,000 

$10,000 


128  REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS. 

Misses  Rebecca  and  Sarah  Waldo's  bequests  were     $15,000 

Mr.  Hitchcock's  donation, 15,000 

The  Boston  subscription, 30,000 

Scholarships,  and  other  minor  donations  and  legacies,  15,000 

Besides  these  endowments,  it  ought  to  be  here  added,  in 
passing,  that  from  the  beginning,  as  exigencies  arose,  many 
of  these  friends,  with  others,  were  constantly  contributing 
in  various  sums  for  current  expenditure.  I  have  traced  in 
the  accounts  not  less  than  $15,000  which  Mr.  Bartlet  gave  in 
this  way,  for  the  salary  of  a  President  of  the  Institution  and 
other  purposes.  In  this  way,  too,  needy  students  were 
largely  aided  here  for  a  time,  before  any  specific  endowments 
had  been  provided  for  the  purpose,  and  before  the  Education 
Society  had  arisen  to  befriend  them.  In  the  same  way  also 
the  Library  was  at  first  enriched  by  many  valuable  donations 
of  money,  as  well  as  books. 

And  what  shall  we  say  now  of  the  spirit  in  which  these 
endowments  were  concentrated  here  ?  This  point  cannot  be 
adequately  presented  in  these  few  moments,  yet  it  ought  not 
to  be  left  untouched.1 

In  a  communication  to  a  very  intimate  friend,  on  the 
subject  of  prayer  for  the  success  of  the  enterprise,  Madam 
Phillips  says  of  herself:  "  Allow  me  to  say  to  you,  I  never 
expressed  an  opinion  on  the  subject  which  did  not  originate 
in  maturity  of  thought  and  sacred  observance  of  the  com- 
mand as  an  inestimable  privilege.  Capacity  is  wanting  for 
the  due  arrangement  of  my  thoughts,  so  that  I  might  make 
them  visible  to  you,  sufficiently  comprehensive  and  pertinent 
to  give  you  any  just  idea  of  the  weight  with  which  I  feel  the 
necessity  of  presenting  the  very  FAVORITE  OBJECT  (which 

1  It  lias  been  thought  desirable  to  insert  in  this  connection  some  more  ex- 
tended illustrations  of  the  devout  and  beneficent  spirit  of  several  of  the 
principal  donors  to  the  Institution  than  could  be  given  at  the  celebration, 
for  want  of  time. 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS.  129 

you  appear  so  fully  to  receive  my  idea  of)  to  our  Heavenly 

Benefactor,  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  Universe With 

the  highest  veneration  my  enfeebled  nature  is  capable  of, 
and  with  an  unshaken  belief  in  the  perfections  of  the  Divine 
character,  I  have,  times  innumerable,  carried  the  PROJECT 
you  are  pleased  to  countenance  with  so  much  warmth  of 
approbation,  to  this  all-prolific  Fountain  of  light  and  life; 
humbly  requesting  that  it  may  be  there  sanctioned ;  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  may  be  sent  to  operate  by  his  divine  influences 
on  the  hearts  and  minds  of  those  who,  by  commission,  from 
above,  may  be  employed  in  maturing  the  plan,  by  bringing 
the  design  with  its  best  and  most  advantageous  features 
into  view  for  approbation  from  the  wise.  Surely  I  can  never 
cease  to  pray  God  to  take  the  whole  into  His  hands,  to  be 
perfected  at  His  own  time,  according  to  His  own  method. 
He  knows  my  heart,  with  every  movement  thereof.  I  think 
I  can  say  that  the  advancement  of  His  GLORY  is  the  main- 
spring of  all  my  desires."  1 

Mr.  Abbot  seems  to  have  had  a  peculiar  and  powerful  im- 
pulse in  this  work.  At  his  decease  it  was  said  of  him,  with 
special  emphasis :  "  In  the  most  important  transactions  of 
his  life,  namely,  those  which  related  to  the  establishment  of 
the  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  his  duty,  as  he  often  declared, 
was  made  as  clear  to  his  mind  as  if  it  had  been  particularly 

pointed  out  to  him  by  a  voice  from  heaven." "  Many 

years  ago  he  began  to  give  assistance  to  young  men  of  tal- 
ents and  hopeful  piety  in  their  preparation  for  the  ministry. 
But  he  had  a  largeness  of  heart  which,  after  all  these  acts  of 
charity,  was  not  filled.  None  of  his  plans  of  doing  good 
satisfied  him,  none  corresponded  with  the  extepf  of  his  be- 
nevolence before  he  entertained  the  design  of  making  an 
establishment  for  the  education  and  support  of  theological 
students. 

"  This   design,  he  often   declared,  was  first  suggested  to 

1  Dr.  Pearson's  Funeral  Discourse ;  note,  p.  22. 

17 


130  REV.  MR.   TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS. 

him  by  no  man  on  earth,  but  by  the  SPIRIT  OF  GOD.  This 
he  seriously  and  constantly  believed;  and  this  no  Chris- 
tian can  doubt.  The  nature  and  design  of  the  SEMINARY 
exactly  agreed  with  his  feelings.  Religious  beneficence  had 
become  his  grand  object.  To  this  he  had  consecrated  much 
of  the  wealth  which  God  had  given  him.  His  strict  econ- 
omy, and  all  his  exertions  to  retain  and  increase  his  property, 
were  finally  directed  to  the  great  design  of  doing  good  to  the 
Church  of  Christ.  It  was  his  own  expression,  '  You  can't 
tell  how  much  pleasure  I  have  taken  in  saving"  for  this  ob- 
ject.'1   He  frequently  mentioned  it  as  his  end  in  what 

he  had  done  for  the  SEMINARY,  to  bring  thousands  and  mil- 
lions to  glory.  This  INSTITUTION  was  his  favorite  object,  and 
its  prosperity  constituted  much  of  his  comfort  in  the  con- 
cluding years  of  his  life.  For  this  Institution,  and  all  con- 
nected with  it,  he  offered  up  daily  prayer.  In  this  centred  his 
warmest  affections.  He  connected  with  it  his  most  solemn 
devotions,  his  purest  pleasures,  his  best  hopes  of  the  Church's 

prosperity He  felt  more  and  more  satisfied  that  in 

his  religious  charity  he  had  been  directed  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  and  had  done  what  he  should  rejoice  in  forever,  and 
frequently  expressed  a  pleasing  hope  that  his  beloved  SEMI- 
NARY would  become  far  more  extensively  useful  than  he  had 
at  first  conceived ;  that  it  would  be  the  means  not  only  of 
doing  good  to  the  churches  in  this  country,  but  of  spreading 
the  Gospel  among  the  distant  heathen  nations. 

Often,  wThen  contemplating  the  INSTITUTION  in  this  light, 
did  he  turn  his  thoughts  upon  himself,  and  say,  with  every 
token  of  humility  and  tenderness,  '  I  am  astonished  that 
God  should  make  use  of  such  a  poor  creature  as  I  am  to  do 
this  great  thing'.''  "  * 

Turning  now  from  the  Andover  to  the  Newburyport  group 
of  the  Founders,  we  find  the  same  witness  saying  of  Mr. 

1  Dr.  Woods's  Funeral  Discourse,  pp.  12, 13, 14,  16. 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS.  131 

Brown,  at  his  funeral :  "  He  remembered  what  it  was  to  be 
poor,  and  through  all  the  years  of  his  prosperity  he  cherished 
a  tender  and  generous  sympathy  for  those  who  were  placed 
in  that  condition  from  which  Divine  Providence  had  raised 

him  up It  would  be  impossible  to  record  the  various 

forms  and  instances  of  his  kindness  to  families  and  individ- 
uals in  want But  these  charities  to  the  poor  did  not 

satisfy  the   heart  of  this  friend  of  man His  having 

devoted  so  much  of  his  substance  to  the  ordinary  objects  of 
charity  seems  evidently  to  have  had  an  influence  to  enlarge 
his  heart,  and  to  prepare  him  to  contribute  to  higher  and 
nobler  objects. 

"  My  lot,  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  was  cast  seven  miles 
from  his  residence.  In  compliance  with  a  particular  request, 
I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  with  him,  together  with  an- 
other friend  now  living,  and  one  more,  now,  I  trust,  in  heaven, 
to  consult  respecting  the  establishment  of  a  THEOLOGICAL 
SEMINARY.  It  was  twenty  years  ago.  The  subject  of  a 
Theological  Institution  was  then  new  to  us  and  new  to  the 
public.  The  conversation  of  that  happy  evening  will  be  one 
of  the  last  things  to  fade  away  from  my  memory Ev- 
ery word  and  look  and  tone  of  voice  is  fresh  in  my  recollec- 
tion. The  readiness,  the  simplicity,  the  generous  kindness, 
with  which  our  departed  friend  offered  his  aid,  cannot  be 
described,  though  by  those  who  knew  him  it  may  easily  be 
conceived.  He  merely  said,  '  It  is  a  great  object ;  I  will  give 
ten  thousand  dollars  to  begin  with,  and  more  afterwards?  .... 
It  was  a  remarkable  trait  of  his  character,  distinguishing 
him  from  most  others,  that  even  after  he  came  to  be  an  old 
man  he  could  readily  enter  into  any  new  plans  of  benevo- 
lence, how  different  soever  they  might  be  from  those  to 
which  he  had  been  accustomed."  * 

Of  Mr.  Bartlet,  more  ought,  in  justice  and  gratitude,  to  be 
said,  in  this  connection,  than  the  time  will  allow. 


Duties  of  the  Rich  ;  a  Sermon  by  Dr.  Woods,  pp.  31,  32,  33. 


132  REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS. 

Whatever  tradition  may  report  as  to  the  habits  and  spirit 
in  the  daily  details  of  business  at  home,  and  whatever  mo- 
tives conjecture  may  ascribe  to  him  while  amassing  his  gains 
so  carefully  there,  and  at  the  same  time  pouring  them  out 
here  so  munificently,  it  is  impossible  to  stand  amid  these 
monuments  of  his  bounty,  or  to  read  his  utterances  when 
erecting  them,  without  a  heart-stirring  sense  of  his  liberality, 
his  zeal,  his  modesty,  his  disinterestedness,  his  sagacity  and 
foresight, — marking  a  man  of  the  noblest  type  absorbed  in 
self-forgetting  devotion  to  a  most  noble  work. 

It  would  be  a  most  interesting  study  to  be  allowed  an  in- 
sight into  the  workings  of  that  great  mind,  under  the  timely 
and  sagacious  suggestions  of  his  revered  pastor,  while  this 
enterprise  was  first  starting  into  life.  But,  if  we  may  not 
scan  these  hidden  springs,  we  can  have  no  question,  after  he 
has  once  put  his  strong  hand  to  the  work,  that  it  was  his  own 
profound  love  for  the  object — .and  not  chiefly  the  influence  of 
others  —  which  drew  him  on,  year  after  year,  to  so  many 
affluent  donations ;  while,  as  we  have  abundant  reason  to 
believe,  his  watchfulness  and  prayer  for  the  welfare  of  the  In- 
stitution were  as  constant  as  his  gifts. 

In  his  first  donation,  in  the  Spring  of  1808,  with  his  asso- 
ciates, Messrs.  Brown  and  Norris,  he  professes  to  be  influ- 
enced "  by  a  principle  of  gratitude  to  God  and  benevolence 
to  man,"  .  .  .  .  "  devoutly  imploring  the  Father  of  lights  richly 
to  endue  with  wisdom  from  above  all  his  servants,  the  Visitors 
of  this  Foundation,  and  the  Trustees  of  the  Seminary,  and 
with  spiritual  understanding  the  Professors  therein;  that,  being 
illuminated  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  their  doctrine  may  drop  as  the 
rain ;  and  that  their  pupils  may  become  trees  of  renown  in 
the  courts  of  our  God,  whereby  he  may  be  glorified." l 

In  November  of  the  same  year  he  added  $10,000  to  the 
$20,000  first  given,  toward  the  further  endowment  of  the 
Chair  of  Rhetoric. 

1  Statutes  of  the  Associate  Foundation. 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS.  133 


Early  the  next  year,  we  find  him  writing  as  follows  : 

"  SAMUEL  FARRAR,  ESQ. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :    I  have  concluded  to  build  a  house  at  Andover, 
and  as  it  is  time  to  have  the  bricks  in  preparation,  I  wish  you 
to  make  inquiry  how  they  can  be  procured,  and  at  what  price. 
"  I  also  wish  to  know  how  you  progress  in  your  inquiries 
after  the  place  where  to  set  the  house.     I  will  thank  you  to 
write  me  by  mail,  if  no  direct  opportunity  offers.     I  hope  we 
shall  obtain  Dr.  Griffin.     My  respects  to  Madam  Phillips. 
"  I  am,  sir,  with  much  respect, 

"  Your  friend  and  humble  servant, 

"  WILLIAM  BARTLET." 

In  accordance  with  this  intimation,  he  during  the  subse- 
quent year  erected  the  large  and  costly  residence,  since  known 
as  the  President's  House,  which,  with  the  grounds  attached, 
he  presented  to  the  Institution.  Before  he  had  completed  this 
work,  he  purchased  of  Madam  Phillips,  early  in  1810,  a  site 
on  the  south  of  her  mansion,  upon  which  he  immediately 
erected  a  dwelling-house  for  Professor  Stuart,  conveying  the 
same  with  the  lands  to  the  Trustees,  for  the  Institution; — but 
so  quietly,  and  so  largely  under  his  own  eye  was  all  this  done, 
that  no  reference  is  made  to  it  in  any  of  his  letters  on  our 
files.  Meanwhile,  before  the  close  of  the  year  1809,  he  began 
to  make  large  contributions  for  the  assistance  of  needy  stu- 
dents, which  were  continued,  as  already  intimated,  for  many 
years  with  no  sparing  hand. 

After  this,  for  a  few  years,  he  appears  to  have  planned  no 
new  movement  in  our  behalf,  but  only  to  have  watched  the 
working  of  the  Institution  with  great  care,  as  it  became  linked 
with  the  Foreign  Missionary  enterprise,  in  which  he  was  also 
prominent,  and  as  the  Education  Society,  and  other  kindred 
associations  sprang  up  within  its  pale.  But  as  the  Seminary 
prospered  signally,  and  his  own  business  brought  him  in  its 
princely  revenue,  his  comprehensive  mind  began  ere  long  to 


134  REV.  ME.  TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS. 

revolve  other  and  larger  projects  ;  and,  once  fairly  enlisted  in 
a  project,  he  becomes  not  only  decisive,  but  eager,  and  impet- 
uous almost  in  executing  it.  Thus  he  writes  : 

"  NEWBURYPORT,  January  29,  1817. 
"  SAMUEL  FARRAR,  ESQ. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  I  gave  encouragement  that  I  would  give  five 
thousand  dollars  towards  building  a  Chapel,  in  hopes  that 
some  gentleman  would  come  forward  and  give  enough  more 
as  to  complete  such  a  building ;  but,  hearing  nothing  being 
done,  I  conclude  it  labors.  As  such  a  building  is  much 
wanted,  and  the  season  is  coming  on  to  procure  materials,  I 
now  wish  that  it  might  proceed ;  I  therefore  am  ready  to  fulfil 
what  I  proposed,  etc. 

"  I  am,  sir,  with  much  respect, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  WILLIAM  BARTLET." 

A  fortnight  later  he  writes  again ;  having,  meanwhile,  by 
conference  with  others,  more  definitely  determined  what  to 
attempt. 

"  NEWBURYPORT,  Feb'ry  10,  1817. 

"  In  conversation  with  Dr.  Spring  and  Mr.  Stuart,  it  was 
agreed  by  them  both,  that  a  Chapel  of  the  following  dimen- 
sions would  be  adequate  to  all  the  purposes  of  the  Seminary, 
in  case  it  should  be  as  large  as  Cambridge  University,  or  Yale 
College,  viz. :  —  Length  sixty-five  feet,  fifty-five  feet  wide,  and 
three  stories  high,  which  stories  shall  be  such  as  to  bring  it 
to  proper  height  for  symmetry  with  the  Colleges  ;  to  be  placed 
so  as  to  project  in  front  sufficiently  to  break  the  line  of  uni- 
form appearance  and  preserve  symmetry ;  making,  according 
to  present  calculations,  a  room  for  public  worship  of  twenty- 
two  hundred  and  fifty  square  feet,  with  a  gallery,  which  will 
contain  seven  hundred  or  eight  hundred  persons,  a  library 
room  over  it  of  the  same  dimensions,  and  three  public  lee- 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS.  135 

ture-rooms,  etc.,  etc If  the   Trustees  shall  think 

proper  to  proceed  in  the  erection  of  such  a  building,  I  hereby 
engage  to  accomplish  the  above  specified  objects  ;  and  my  re- 
quest is,  that  it  be  done  without  any  delay,  that  the  workmen 
be  forthwith  engaged,  the  timber  obtained,  and  the  materials 
collected  without  any  loss  of  time ;  and  the  Committee  for 
building,  which  may  be  appointed  by  the  Trustees,  are  re- 
quested to  call  on  me,  from  time  to  time,  as  they  need  money 
to  proceed  in  the  building,  according  to  the  arrangements 
above  made. 

"  The  above  I  wish  might  be  put  forward  immediately. 
"  I  remain,  with  much  respect, 

"  WILLIAM  BARTLET." 

How  transparent  his  reasoning !  A  new  and  great  work  is 
needed  for  the  Seminary ;  he  is  ready  to  put  his  hand  to  it, 
but  wishes  to  enlist  others ;  yet  "  it  labors ; "  therefore  he  will  do 
it  alone,  and  do  it  on  a  scale  larger  than  might  suffice  for  the 
present.  And  now  the  chief  stress  is  to  have  it  done  in  the 
shortest  possible  period,  "  without  any  delay,"  or  "  any  loss  of 
time,"  "  forthwith,"  "  immediately  ! "  Yet  when  it  was  com- 
pleted, and  about  to  be  dedicated  to  its  sacred  uses,  he  wrote  a 
characteristic  letter,  which  is  now  lost,  to  Dr.  Porter,  the 
preacher  on  the  occasion,  especially  requesting  that  no  mention 
should  be  made  of  himself  in  the  service ; *  and  in  his  letter  to 
the  Trustees,  tendering  the  edifice  to  them,  he  speaks  of  it  as 
erected  because, "  the  Author  of  all  our  mercies,  and  by  whose 
providence  we  are  upheld  in  life,  has  ordained  that  a  house 
should  be  built,  and  with  no  allusion  to  himself  commits  it 

1  It  is  to  this  circumstance  that  Dr.  Porter  alludes  in  his  discourse,  p.  24 : 
"  Is  it  then  the  hand  of  enchantment  that  spreads  this  scene  before  us  ?  It 
is  the  hand  of  God,  operating  through  honored  instruments,  who  ascribe  and 
require  us  to  ascribe  all  the  glory  to  Him.  The  unexampled  generosity,  to 
which  we  owe  the  special  interest  of  this  day,  is  associated  with  delicacy 
which  forbids  us  to  speak  of  our  obligations,"  etc.,  etc. 


136  REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS. 

to  their  custody,  with  the  prayer  that  their  hearts  may  all  be 
right  with  God,  and  that  their  successors  in  office  may  pos- 
sess the  same  spirit !  " 

This  edifice  was  dedicated  in  September,  1818.  Before 
the  close  of  that  very  month,  we  find  him  incidentally  pro- 
posing to  enlarge  the  endowment  of  his  Professorship,  in  his 
own  peculiar  way,  as  the  following  extracts  from  his  letters 
indicate. 

«  NEWBURYPORT,  Sept.  28,  1818. 
"  SAMUEL  FARRAR,  ESQ. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  The  Board  of  Visitors  having  recommended  a 
permanent  salary  for  the  Professors,  and  should  the  Board  of 
Trustees  grant  them  the  sum  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  per 
annum,  the  sum  that  I  have  already  given  will  not,  the  interest 
of  it  only,  meet  the  payment.  I  therefore,  should  the  Trus- 
tees grant  the  aforesaid  sum  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  per 
annum,  make  a  further  donation,  and  add  four  thousand  dol- 
lars to  the  twenty-one  thousand  already  given,  making  the 
amount  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  for  the  Professorship, 

etc.,  etc. 

"  I  am,  sir, 

"  With  respect, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  WILLIAM  BARTLET." 

"  NEWBURYPORT,  Feb.  22,  1819. 
"  SAMUEL  FARRAR,  ESQ. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  ....  I  understand  there  is  to  be  a  meeting 
of  the  Trustees  of  Phillips  Academy  this  week,  in  Boston. 
At  this  meeting  I  hope  the  business  of  increasing  the  salary  of 
the  Professors  will  be  acted  on,  and  the  sum  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred dollars  each  affixed  to  them  per  annum.  I  am  ready,  as 
soon  as  that  sum  is  fixed,  to  add  four  thousand  dollars,  etc. 
I  hope  no  delay  will  take  place. 
"  I  am,  sir, 

"  With  respect, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  WILLIAM  BARTLET." 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS.  137 

Before  he  had  completed  this  work  which  he  was  so  eager 
to  despatch,  he  was  contemplating  yet  another,  of  which  he 
writes,  in  the  following  remarkable  words : 

"  NEWBURYPORT,  Jan'y  3,  1820. 
"  SAMUEL  FARRAR,  ESQ. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  I  received  your  friendly  letter.  The  subject 
your  write  on  is  what  lays  much  on  my  mind,  and  has  done 
for  years  —  the  prosperity  of  the  Institution.  Oh,  how  won- 
derful! Providence  is  trying  us  by  prospering  us  beyond 
what  we  could  have  any  prospect  of  when  we  first  thought 
of  the  undertaking ;  and  are  we  suitably  thankful  and  hum- 
ble ?  I  cannot  say  but  I  have  had  thoughts  of  making 
another  attempt  to  make  things  more  convenient ;  but  I  have 
had  thoughts  that  hinder  me.  What  will  the  world  say  ?  My 
vanity  is  full  enough  puffed  up,  and  a  great  deal  too  much.  I 
was  in  hopes  some  one,  from  right  motives,  would  step  for- 
ward, and  put  up  another  building  that  is  much  wanted ;  but 
I  hear  of  no  one  as  yet,  etc.  etc. 
"  I  am,  dear  sir, 

"  With  much  respect, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  WILLIAM  BARTLET." 


With  such  a  beginning  in  his  "  thoughts,"  we  should  ex 
pect  from  such  a  mind  some  early  and  magnanimous  decision, 
and  two  brief  notes  give  us  the  characteristic  result : 


"  NEWBURYPORT,  March  27,  1820. 
"  SAMUEL  FARRAR,  ESQ. 

"DEAR  SIR:  As  you  have  been  hauling  stones  near  the 
place  where  a  new  College  is  contemplated  to  be  built,  I 
would  ask  the  question,  if  it  would  not  be  proper  to  ask  lib- 

18 


138  EEV.  MR.  TAYLOE'S   ADDRESS. 

erty  of  the  Trustees  of  Phillips  Academy,  at  Andover,  to 
build  a  New  College,  should  any  one  person  be  so  minded  ? 
"  Mr.  Marshal  has  gone  to  Andover  to  view  the  spot,  etc. 
"  I  am,  sir,  truly, 

"Your  friend,  and 

"  Obedient  servant, 

"  WILLIAM  BARTLET." 

"  NEWBURYPORT,  March  29, 1820. 
"  SAMUEL  FARRAR,  ESQ. 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  I  received  your  favor  of  the  28th  inst.,  by  Mr. 
Marshal.  I  wish  you,  dear  sir,  to  request  the  Honorable 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Phillips  Academy,  at  Andover,  to  grant 
liberty  to  me,  if  you  please,  to  put  up  another  College  for 
the  use  of  the  Theological  Seminary,  at  Andover,  on  their 
ground  that  they  hold  in  trust,  etc.,  etc. 
"  I  am,  sir, 

"  With  respect, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  WILLIAM  BARTLET." 

I  shall  be  occupying  too  much  time  if  I  dwell  longer  now 
on  these  incidents  connected  with  his  many  munificent  gifts, 
early  and  late.  The  edifice  referred  to  in  these  notes,  was  in 
due  time  completed,  and  in  modest  and  devout  terms  ten- 
dered to  the  Trustees. 

In  the  same  spirit  he  subsequently  pledged  to  them  the 
salary  of  a  President  of  the  Institution  for  a  term  of  years ; 
built  still  another  Professor's  residence,  first  occupied  by  Dr. 
Skinner,  and  at  last  left  a  legacy  to  the  Seminary  without 
specifying  the  uses  to  which  it  should  be  appropriated. 

Such  was  the  man,  to  whom  the  Institution  is  chiefly  in- 
debted for  its  varied  endowments  !  —  ever  giving,  and  ever 
surpassing  not  others  so  much  as  himself  in  his  surprising 
liberality  ;  yet  so  unostentatious,  that  he  does  not  permit  him- 
self or  others  for  the  time  to  connect  his  name  with  his 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS.  139 

deeds  ;  lavishing  half  of  all  his  many  donations  on  buildings 
alone,  —  which  some  men  will  never  help  to  erect  because 
they  must  decay,  —  and  so  unthoughtful  of  his  memory  here 
that  his  very  portrait  could  never  be  obtained  with  his  consent, 
nor  without  an  artifice  of  which  he  was  ignorant.1 

1  In  addition  to  the  preceding  remarks,  and  to  the  sketch  of  Dr.  Withing- 
ton,  we  here  append  a  few  paragraphs  from  Dr.  Dana's  discourse,  delivered 
in  our  Chapel  in  commemoration  of  Mr.  Bartlet,  April  19,  1841.  He  says, 
pp.  16,  etc.: 

"  Mr.  Bartlet  was  born,  lived,  and  died,  in  Newburyport.  [He  was  born 
Jan.  31,1 748.  He  died  Feb.  8, 1841,  aged  93.]  He  was  the  son  of  parents 
esteemed  for  their  moral  worth,  and  respected  for  their  piety.  By  nature  he 
was  liberally  gifted.  There  was  a  singular  analogy  between  his  mental  and 
corporal  structure.  His  firm,  athletic,  commanding  frame,  had  a  counterpart 
in  a  inind  of  unusual  comprehensiveness  and  energy.  He  possessed  a  quick 
perception,  an  accurate  discrimination,  a  solid  and  correct  judgment,  united 
with  great  ardor,  decision,  and  perseverance.  His  advantages  for  education 
were  simply  those  of  a  common  school.  But  the  ardor  and  activity  of  his 
mind  supplied  a  multitude  of  defects He  supplied  the  want  of  a  regu- 
lar commercial  education  by  deep  reflection,  critical  observation,  and  careful 
enquiry.  He  mingled  courage  with  caution,  and  care  in  acquiring  with  equal 
care  in  preserving.  He  conciliated  a  general  confidence,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  by  his  strict  and  acknowledged  integrity,  punctuality,  and  accuracy. 
He  was  remarkable  for  a  habitual  calmness  and  self-possession.  Rarely  has 
the  merchant  been  found  so  little  elated  as  he  by  success,  or  so  little  de- 
pressed by  those  disappointments  and  reverses  incident  to  the  most  prosper- 
ous career In  his  transactions  with  those  whom  he  employed,  and  with 

others,  he  was  punctiliously  and  rigidly  just.  By  some,  no  doubt,  he  was 
viewed  as  incurring  the  censure  couched  in  a  poet's  suggestion,  that  "  Right, 
too  rigid,  hardens  into  Wrong."  But  such  was  the  deeply  ingrained  habit  of 
his  mind,  ....  nor  will  it  be  denied  that  his  rigid  accuracy  in  transacting 
business  —  in  doing  justice  and  exacting  justice  —  if  it  conduced  little  to  his 
popularity,  served  a  much  better  purpose,  as  it  tended  to  correct  those  loose 
and  inaccurate  habits  which  have  been  so  extensively  and  deeply  injurious 
in  our  community."  After  alluding  to  Mr.  Bartlet's  deep  interest  in  the  pros- 
perity of  his  native  town,  and  the  political  welfare  of  his  country,  in  the  cause 
of  Temperance,  in  Foreign  and  Home  Missions,  in  the  Education  Society, 


140  REV.  MR.   TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS. 

With  Mr.  Norris  the  idea  of  endowing  a  Theological  In- 
stitution had  been  cherished  for  several  years.  With  his 
pastor,  Dr.  Hopkins,  he  frequently  conversed  upon  the  subject. 

and  educational  efforts  and  institutions  generally,  —  to  all  of  which  objects  he 
contributed  often  and  largely, — Dr.  Dana  continues  :...."  But  that  liberal- 
ity which  was  diffused  into  so  wide  a  sphere,  was  peculiarly  and  powerfully 
concentrated  on  this  favored  spot.  This  sacred  Institution,  which  owes  so 
much  to  the  generosity  of  many  an  honored  Founder  and  Benefactor,  is 
under  special  and  immeasurable  obligations  to  the  munificence  of  that  friend 
whom  on  this  occasion  we  remember  and  mourn.  It  is  a  singular  and  mem- 
orable fact,  that  when,  about  thirty-four  years  since,  several  opulent  and 
large-hearted  individuals  were  meditating  the  establishment  of  a  Theological 
Seminary  in  this  place,  an  assemblage  of  the  same  description,  in  a  distant 
part  of  the  county,  were,  without  any  mutual  knowledge  or  communication, 
engaged  in  a  design  entirely  similar.  When  the  respective  parties  became 
acquainted  with  each  other's  intentions,  a  most  interesting  question  arose. 
Would  the  cause  of  God  and  the  interest  of  the  churches  be  best  promoted 
by  a  separate  or  a  united  organization  ?  Each  plan  had  its  advantages,  and 
each  its  difficulties.  Among  the  last  may  be  mentioned  some  shades  of  dif- 
ference in  theological  views.  The  question  received  a  long  and  ample  dis- 
cussion. In  the  issue  difficulties  vanished,  minor  differences  were  merged, 
the  spirit  of  union  and  of  mutual  concession  prevailed ;  and  as  the  result,  this 
Theological  Institution  rose  into  existence,  amply  endowed  and  powerfully 
sustained.  The  Founders,  at  Andover,  having  been  first  in  maturing  and 
arranging  their  plan,  it  was  agreed  that  the  Other  party  should  unite  with 
them,  under  the  appellation  of  ASSOCIATE  FOUNDERS. 

"  Messrs.  Brown  and  Norris  made  each  a  donation  of  ten  thousand  dollars  ; 
Mr.  Bartlet  the  same  ;  adding,  at  the  same  time,  another  ten  thousand,  and 
soon  after  increasing  his  subscription  by  a  similar  additional  sum.  These 
contributions,  so  liberal  and  ample,  were  but  a  mere  introduction  to  subse- 
quent displays  of  his  liberality Having  from  early  time  adopted  the 

Seminary  as  the  child  of  his  affection,  he  followed  it,  in  every  subsequent 
stage,  with  spontaneous  and  unintermitted  kindness,  crowning  all  former 
favors  by  a  very  liberal  provision  in  his  last  testament.  Justice  to  his 
memory  requires  me  to  add,  that,  in  the  midst  of  his  disbursements  to  his 
favorite  Seminary,  and  to  other  great  and  benevolent  objects,  he  appeared 
simple,  unassuming,  and  unostentatious.  He  often  spoke  of  himself  as  the 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS.  141 

There  is  a  tradition  that,  without  further  concert  than  this,  he 
was  preparing  to  lay  the  foundation  of  such  a  Seminary  in 
Salem,  when  he  was  invited  to  a  conference  with  Messrs. 
Brown  and  Bartlet,  at  Newburyport. 

Whatever  may  have  been  his  projects,  and  however  the 
question  of  his  priority  in  such  plans  may  deserve  to  be 
considered,  his  intimacy  with  Dr.  Spring  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  fact  of  his  having  a  summer  residence  at  Andover 
on  the  other,  naturally  drew  him  into  a  hearty  cooperation 
with  the  more  enlarged  effort  to  establish  a  union  Seminary 
here.1 

At  first,  it  is  reported  that  he  was  inclined  to  give  $5,000 
only  toward  this  endowment,  as  he  was  very  deeply  interested 
at  the  time  in  the  work  of  Missions, — often  exclaiming,  "  The 
missionary  object  is  the  greatest  in  the  world !  "  But  when,  on 
his  return  from  Newburyport,  Mrs.  -Norris,  in  her  ardor  and 
forecast,  suggests  that  he  ought  to  give  $10,000,  —  "  for  the 
missionary  work  and  the  Seminary  are  the  same,"  —  he  at 
once  assents. 

And  now,  as  he  comes  to  make  an  offering  to  the  Lord, 


mere  steward  of  a  merciful  Providence,  and  of  his  obligations  to  devote  his 
large  possessions,  not  to  his  own  pleasure  or  aggrandizement,  but  to  the  ser- 
vice of  God. 

"  It  cannot,  I  think,  be  rationally  suspected  that  he  harbored  the  thought  of 
purchasing  by  his  bounties  either  a  seat  in  heaven,  or  a  splendid  character  on 
earth.  He  uniformly  disclaimed  every  idea  of  merit  in  the  sight  of  his 
Maker.  And  of  the  good  opinion  of  mankind,  he  seemed  independent  and 
regardless,  even  to  a  fault." 

1  His  "  country  seat,"  for  a  few  years  before  his  death,  was  the  old  parson- 
age, which  had  been  occupied  by  Dr.  Symmes,  in  the  North  Parish,  opposite 
the  birthplace  of  Judge  Phillips,  which  Mr.  Norris  had  purchased,  and 
where  he  resided  in  summer  —  regularly  attending  divine  service  on  the 
Sabbath  in  the  South  Parish,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Mr.  French, 
with  Mr.  Abbot  and  Madam  Phillips,  who  were  at  this  time  maturing  their 
plans  for  the  Institution  here. 


142  REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS. 

which  in  some  form  he  had  long  been  meditating,  it  is  done 
in  a  memorable  way.  Drawing  the  whole  sum  immediately 
from  the  bank  in  specie,  —  because  he  will  give  nothing  less 
solid,  —  he  keeps  it  for  a  considerable  period  in  his  bedroom, 
daily  consecrating  it  again  and  again  by  special  prayer  to  the 
object,  and  then  it  is  ready  for  its  great  work !  What  he  be- 
gins so  reverently,  in  his  zeal,  it  may  be  in  his  heart  to  con- 
tinue in  other  and  even  larger  offerings,  as  his  associates  were 
prompted  to  do ;  but  before  the  year  ends  he  is  called  to  his 
reward.1 

Yet,  dying  without  issue,  and  without  a  will,  he  leaves  it 
in  the  power  of  Mrs.  Norris,  as  it  is  in  her  heart,  to  foster  the 
infant  Seminary  as  it  may  need.  But  her  time  also  is  short. 

After  an  illness  of  three  days  only,  when  she  thinks  she  is 
recovering,  she  is  told  that  she  can  survive  but  a  few  hours. 
"  The  missionary  work  and  the  Seminary  are  the  same  "  still 
in  her  thoughts ;  and,  having  done  for  both  what  she  could, 
often,  and  to  the  last,  in  life,  she  now  remembers  them  espec- 
ially in  death. 

In  the  record  of  the  legal  contest  which  her  will  occasioned, 
we  read,  "  that  the  directions  to  the  scrivener  for  preparing  the 
will  were  deliberately  given  by  the  testatrix  at  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  forenoon  of  the  21st  of  March,  A.  D.  1811,  when  she 
was  very  ill  of  the  sickness  whereof  she  died;  that  at  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  she  executed  the 
same  will,  and  at  half-past  eight  o'clock  on  the  same  evening 
she  expired."2 

A  surviving  witness  to  the  scene  informs  us  that  after  the 
first  draft  of  the  will  was  shown  to  her,  she  gave  directions 
for  a  change  in  it,  which  would  connect  her  bequest  to  the 
Seminary  with  the  Associate  Foundation;  and  then  in  haste 

1  The  Associate  Statutes  were  signed  March  21, 1808,  and  Mr.  Norris  died 
Dec.  22,  1808. 

2  Mass.  Reports,  12,  536—564.     William  Bartlet  et  als.,  vs.  James  King, 
Executor ;  also,  Trustees  of  Phillips  Academy,  vs.  James  King,  Executor. 


ADDRESS.  143 

they  raised  her  up  in  the  bed,  so  that  she  could  sign  and  seal 
the  instrument  before  it  should  be  too  late ! 

Admirable  devotion  to  objects  so  worthy !  —  eager,  ardent, 
comprehensive,  in  life  ;  intelligent,  calm,  decisive  in  death  ! 

It  was  from  such  hearts  —  an  elect  few,  most  of  whom  were 
soon  to  be  in  heaven !  —  that  the  Seminary  received  its  form 
and  measure,  and  the  consecrating  baptism  of  its  spirit,  as  a 
new  instrumentality  in  the  work  of  the  church,  then  about  to 
look  forth  with  a  new  vision  upon  the  world  as  its  field. 

It  is  on  such  a  foundation  —  so  broad,  and  laid  in  so  devout 
a  spirit  —  that  we  of  the  present  generation  are  called  to 
build. 

Much  as  the  piety  and  munificence  of  these  early  donors 
provided  for,  the  Institution  has  far  surpassed  their  most  san- 
guine hopes,  and  in  its  growth  has  called  for  the  recent  offer- 
ings already  alluded  to,  from  friends  in  Boston  and  elsewhere. 
I  am  glad  so  many  of  them  are  with  us  to-day,  to  see  what 
a  noble  brotherhood  they  have  joined.  But  with  the  new 
want  so  well  met  by  them,  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  other 
exigencies  have  arisen,  and  must  continue  to  spring  up  in  this 
work.  The  recent  increase  of  students,  year  after  year,  occa- 
sions an  urgent  need  of  more  liberal  beneficiary  endowments, 
to  aid  the  indigent.  The  steady  and  rapid  growth  of  the 
Library  creates  a  demand  for  a  new  edifice  to  contain  it,  and 
especially  to  make  it  safe,  —  a  want  which,  for  the  sake  of 
theological  learning  in  our  country,  ought  not  long  to  exist. 
There  is  great  need,  too,  of  a  new  Chapel  for  the  Sabbath  wor- 
ship, and  for  public  occasions  like  this,  that  we  may  not  be 
compelled,  as  now,  to  meet  in  tabernacles. 

Nor  can  we  hope  now,  as  in  the  beginning,  to  find  a  few 
men  of  princely  means  and  spirit,  who  will  do  whatever  may 
be  needed.  The  Institution  must  lean  on  its  Alumni,  and  on 

1  Besides  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Norris,  whose  deaths  are  mentioned  in  the  text, 
Mr.  Abbot  died  in  April,  1812,  and  Madam  Phillips  in  October,  of  the  same 
year. 


144  REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S   ADDRESS. 

the  churches  to  which  they  minister,  and  thus  reach  the  heart 
of  the  Christian  public  generally  ;  so  that  in  gifts  from  the 
living,  and  bequests  from  the  dying,  that  love  every  good 
cause,  it  may  be  habitually  remembered. 

While  so  many  are  here  to-day,  gratefully  commemorating 
the  past  in  its  history,  let  us  hope  they  will  rejoice  to  do  some- 
thing toward  providing  for  the  future.  As  you  will  be,  and 
ought  to  be,  watchful  over  the  faith  here,  so  fail  not  to  watch 
over  the  funds, — as  ready  to  supply  all  defects  in  the  one  as  in 
the  other, — and  praying  with  us  that  both  may  abound  to  the 
glory  of  God  in  his  service  for  the  world.  1 

1  As  these  pages  may  fall  into  the  hands  of  some  persons  who  will  desire  a 
more  detailed  statements  of  our  wants,  we  add  a  few  paragraphs  here. 

The  need  of  a  new  Chapel  cannot  be  so  well  stated  as  felt.  It  is  the  need 
which  every  flourishing  congregation  feels  when  its  numbers  exceed  the  sit- 
tings which  it  can  provide.  With  the  gradual  accession  of  families  interested 
in  the  Seminary,  who  are  anxious  to  worship  with  us,  and  the  steady  increase 
of  students,  both  in  the  Seminary  and  Academy,  our  Chapel  is  now  uncom- 
fortably crowded.  Yet  there  are  strong  reasons  for  wishing  to  increase  the 
attendance  instead  of  diminishing  it.  The  influence  of  a  larger  and  more 
miscellaneous  congregation  upon  the  style  and  spirit  of  the  preaching  here 
is  especially  desirable ;  and  the  more  our  Sabbath  assemblies  can  be  divested 
of  a  scholastic  aspect  and  feeling,  and  made  to  resemble  the  other  churches 
of  the  land,  so  much  the  more  closely  shall  we  be  identified  with  every  part 
of  the  work  in  which  the  Christian  public  may  be  engaged.  But  neither  the 
worshippers  here  nor  the  Corporation  have  the  means  of  erecting  a  new 
sanctuary,  and  this  want  must  continue  to  press  us  more  and  more,  till  the 
hand  of  benevolence  shall  relieve  us. 

The  demand  for  a  new  Library  Edifice  is  becoming  more  obvious  every 
year,  and  must  very  soon  be  imperative.  No  care  can  make  our  invaluable 
collection  of  books  safe  in  the  present  building.  Every  precaution  against 
fire  is  used,  and  a  heavy  Insurance  kept ;  but  there  are  rare  and  costly  works 
here  which  could  not  be  replaced  if  lost ;  and  the  value  of  the  Library 
greatly  exceeds  any  amount  that  can  be  insured  upon  it.  No  scholar,  who  is 
acquainted  with  the  contents  of  the  alcoves,  could  hear  of  their  destruction 
without  a  pang  of  sorrow.  But,  more  than  this,  the  library  will  soon  require 
a  larger  as  well  as  a  more  safe  repository.  It  is  increasing  by  gift  and  pur- 


REV.  MR.  TAYLOR'S  ADDRESS.  145 

Rev.  Jonathan  French,  Pastor  of  the  South  Church, 
in  Andover,  was  a  personal  friend  of  the  Phillips  family, 

chase  now  at  the  rate  of  about  500  volumes  yearly.  Every  alcove  is  already 
filled  ;  nearly  all  the  space  that  can  be  occupied  by  temporary  shelves  is 
taken  up,  and  a  very  short  period  more  will  make  it  impossible  to  preserve 
any  proper  order  and  taste  in  the  arrangement  of  such  works  as  may  be 
procured. 

We  must,  therefore,  as  soon  as  possible,  erect  a  thoroughly  fire-proof  build- 
ing, large  enough  not  only  for  the  present,  but  for  the  prospective,  Library ; 
and  we  must  continue  to  remind  our  friends  that  our  only  hope  of  accom- 
plishing this  great  object  is  in  their  liberality. 

But  the  need  of  new  Beneficiary  Endowments  here  is,  if  possible,  still  more 
pressing,  though  not  more  prominent.  Five  years  ago  there  were  less  than 
fifty  needy  students  in  the  Seminary,  and  the  scholarships  and  other  bene- 
ficiary funds  enabled  us  to  aid  them  liberally.  Now  there  are  at  least  seventy, 
and  the  number  is  every  year  increasing.  These  young  men,  about  three- 
quarters  of  the  whole  number,  come  here,  in  many  cases  in  debt,  relying  on 
the  Education  Society,  and  our  grants,  as  their  chief  pecuniary  resources. 
We  can  help  the  larger  numbers  by  diminishing  the  amount  to  each  individ- 
ual ;  but  must  we  do  this  ?  —  ought  we  to  do  it  ?  Shall  we  not  rather  appeal 
to  the  churches  in  the  students'  behalf?  We  indulge  the  hope  that  churches 
and  individuals  will  be  interested  in  reinforcing  us  at  this  point,  both  by  do- 
nations and  legacies,  as  they  have,  in  fact,  already  begun  to  do.  We  desire, 
especially,  now,  to  secure  the  endowment  of  at  least  forty  Scholarships,  of 
$1000  each,  the  income  of  which  shall  be  annually  given  to  the  several  in- 
cumbents ;  and  until  this,  or  something  equivalent  in  some  other  form,  shall 
be  obtained,  we  must  every  year  commend  the  current  necessities  of  our 
young  men  to  the  hearts  of  all  who  would  not  see  them  utterly  disheartened 
and  crushed  in  their  course. 

Should  any  reader  of  these  pages,  or  his  friends,  desire  to  make  us  a  be- 
quest for  this  object  in  his  will,  if  he  cannot  earlier  help  us,  we  subjoin  a 
brief  form  for  such  a  legacy : 

"  I  give  and  bequeath  to  the  Trustees  of  Thillips  Academy,  at  Andover, 
Mass.,  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars  in  trust,  for  the  founding  of  a  Schol- 
arship in  the  Theological  Seminary  under  their  care ;  the  principal  of  said 
sum  to  be  safely  invested  by  said  Trustees,  and  the  income  thereof  only  ap- 
propriated, under  their  direction,  for  the  support  of  worthy  indigent  students 
in  said  Seminary." 

19 


146  DR.    STEARNS'S    ADDRESS. 

and  especially  of  Samuel  Phillips,  jun.,  the  projector  of 
the  Academy,  of  which  Institution  Mr.  French  was  one 
of  the  original  Trustees.  He  was  also  the  pastor  and 
friend  of  Samuel  Abbot,  one  of  the  Founders  of  the 
Theological  Seminary.  These  relations  to  the  Institu- 
tion, and  its  founders  and  patrons,  as  well  as  his  interest 
in  theological  education,  led  him  to  act  an  important 
part  in  the  establishment  of  the  Theological  Seminary. 
It  was  suitable,  therefore,  that  he  should  receive  an  ap- 
propriate notice  at  this  anniversary,  in  connection  with 
Mr.  Abbot. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Stearns,  President  of  Amherst  College, 
a  grandson  of  Mr.  French,  was  requested  to  prepare 
and  give  this  notice ;  and,  though  burdened  with  other 
duties  and  engagements,  he  consented  to  perform  the 
service. 

Dr.  Stearns  having  been  called  upon  by  the  President, 
after  some  preliminary  remarks  in  regard  to  the  parent- 
age, early  life,  collegiate  studies,  and  professional  labors 
of  Mr.  French,  thus  continued  his 

ADDRE  S  S. 

But  it  is  time  to  speak  more  directly  of  the  agency  he 

may  have  had  in  the  establishment  of  this  Seminary.  Mr. 
French  was  settled  in  Andover  in  1772.  Phillips  Academy 
was  established  in  1778.  The  original  Founders  were  Messrs. 
Samuel  and  John  Phillips,  They  were  greatly  stimulated  to 
this  work,  and  assisted  in  it,  by  Samuel  Phillips,  jun.,  after- 
wards Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Commonwealth.  Samuel 
Phillips,  jun.,  and  Mr.  French,  were  classmates  and  intimate 
friends  in  Harvard  College,  and  it  was  probably  in  conse- 
quence of  this  friendship  that  Mr.  French  was  introduced  to 
the  South  Parish  in  Andover,  and  was  persuaded  to  abandon 
a  missionary  work  among  the  Indians  which  he  had  con- 


DR.    STEARNS'S    ADDRESS.  147 

templated,  and  become  the  pastor  of  that  people.  Mr. 
French's  predecessor  in  Andover  was  the  father  of  Messrs. 
Samuel  and  John  Phillips,  and  the  grandfather  of  Samuel 
Phillips,  junior.  These  circumstances  brought  him  into  inti- 
mate relations  to  the  Phillips  family,  for  the  several  members 
of  which  he  had  the  greatest  respect  and  affection. 

An  anecdote  often  related  to  me  by  my  grandmother 
French's  maiden  sister,  Miss  Ruth  Richards,  who  died  about 
twenty  years  ago,  in  extreme  old  age,  and  who,  during  nearly 
the  whole  of  Mr.  French's  residence  in  Andover^  was  a  mem- 
ber of  his  household,  illustrates  something  of  the  generous 
friendship  which  existed  between  the  classmates.  It  was  a 
period  soon  after  the  Revolution,  when  the  ancient  habits  of 
official  rank  and  respect  had  not  ceased  to  be  particularly  ob- 
served. Mr.  French  was  pastor  of  the  church  in  Andover.  Mr. 
Phillips  was  the  Lieutenant- Governor  of  the  Commonwealth. 
They  were  accustomed  to  ride  on  horseback  together,  both 
within  and  without  the  parish  precincts.  On  the  principle  of 
the  apostle,  "  in  honor  preferring  one  another,"  Mr.  French  in- 
sisted on  giving  Mr.  Phillips  the  right  hand,  as  he  was  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State,  and  Mr.  Phillips  insisted  that  the  position 
of  honor  belonged  to  Mr.  French,  as  he  was  minister  of  the 
Parish.  The  friendly  contention  was  finally  adjusted  by  com- 
promise, that  the  minister  should  consent  to  take  the  prece- 
dence in  Andover,  and  the  Governor  in  the  rest  of  the 
Commonwealth. 

In  establishing  the  Academy,  I  am  not  aware  that  Mr. 
French  had  any  other  agency  than  what  would  naturally  re- 
sult, through  consultation  and  cooperation,  from  his  position 
and  relations  to  the  founders,  and  the  deep  interest  he  must 
take  in  an  Institution  of  this  character,  especially  when  put 
into  operation  in  the  heart  of  his  own  parish. 

He  was  one  of  the  Trustees  from  the  beginning.  The  stu- 
dents formed  a  part  of  his  regular  Sabbath  congregation. 
They  were  required  by  their  teachers  to  repeat  the  outlines  of 
the  sermons  on  Monday  morning.  Besides  this,  Mr.  French 


148  DR.    STEARNS'S    ADDRESS. 

was  in  the  habit,  after  about  1792,  of  preaching  often  in  the 
Academy,  and  giving  to  its  members  regular  theological  in- 
struction, for  which  services  a  small  salary  was  paid  him  from 
the  funds  of  the  Institution. 

It  was  manifestly  the  design  of  the  Phillipses,  if  not  from 
the  outset,  yet  certainly  from  an  early  period,  not  merely  to 
encourage  the  education  of  youth  generally,  but  especially  of 
young  men  of  serious  dispositions,  who  might  in  the  end  be- 
come worthy  candidates  for  the  Christian  ministry. 

Whether  either  of  the  Phillipses  had  or  had  not  in  his  own 
mind  any  foreshadowings  of  such  a  Theological  School  as 
that  here  established  on  Andover  Hill,  I  am  not  informed. 
But  there  is  full  evidence  that  the  Institution,  in  its  grand  out- 
lines, was  present  to  the  mind  of  Mr.  French  as  early  as  1778, 
the  very  year  in  which  the  Academy  was  founded,  and  twen- 
ty-nine years  before  the  Seminary  started  into  being.  The 
evidence  is  found  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  French,  published  in 
the  Boston  Recorder  of  June  8, 1827,  forty -nine  years  after  it 
was  written.  It  is  thus  introduced  : 

"  Honor  to  Whom  Honor." 

"  MESSRS.  EDITORS  :  In  looking  over  some  papers,  a  few 
days  since,  I  accidentally  came  across  a  letter  of  the  Rev. 
Jonathan  French,  of  Andover,  Mass.,  to  Hon.  Nathaniel  Niles, 
of  Vermont,  which  was  written  in  1778.  The  following  is  an 
extract  which  will  be  an  interesting  document  to  all  the 
friends  of  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary. 

" '  Our  friend  Phillips  is  become  a  neighbor,  (he  here  re- 
fers to  Samuel  Phillips,  junior).  He  lives  in  a  house  near  by, 
which  was  purchased,  together  with  another  house  and  two 
farms,  by  his  father  and  uncle  at  Exeter,  for  the  purpose  of 
supporting  a  free  school  or  an  academy,  which  they  are  found- 
ing in  this  place.  They  have  appropriated  a  generous  sum 
as  a  fund  for  this  purpose.  The  school-house  is  already 
erected,  and  the  seminary,  it  is  supposed,  will  open  in  about 


DR.    STEARNS'S    ADDRESS.  149 

a  month  from  this  time.  A  plan  of  the  school —  I  mean  of 
the  regulations,  the  branches  of  literature  to  be  taught  in  it, 
etc.  —  I  may  sometime  or  other,  perhaps,  transmit  to  you.  I 
make  no  doubt  you  will  be  pleased  with  it. 

a '  The  school  has  suggested  a  thought  which  I  have  often 
revolved  in  my  mind.  What  if  some  enterprising  pious 
genius  should  rise  up,  and  set  on  foot  a  subscription  for  foun- 
ding a  Theological  Academy  ?  Suppose  the  plan  well  con- 
certed; and  engaged^  as  well  as  engaging  persons  should 
convey  the  subscription  about,  and  procure  signers,  till  a  suf- 
ficient sum  be  subscribed  to  raise  a  building  in  some  central 
part  of  the  country,  sufficient  to  contain  a  number  of  students 
about  equal  to  the  number  who  annually  devote  themselves 
to  the  study  of  divinity,  and  sufficient  to  provide  a  handsome 
support  to  a  president. 

"  '  The  students  should  be  such  only  as  have  been  graduated 
at  some  college,  or  are  otherwise  qualified  to  enter  upon  the 
study  of  divinity ;  should  tarry  three  years  at  the  academy, 
and  be  boarded  in  common.  None  should  be  allowed  to  en- 
ter but  persons  of  sobriety  and  good  morals.  The  president 
should  be  the  first  in  the  land  for  good  principles,  learning  and 
piety,  —  if  to  be  had,  —  the  best  of  libraries  for  the  purpose 
be  procured,  and  a  whole  course  of  Divinity  be  studied,  and 
everything  practicable,  that  may  assist  to  qualify  young  gen- 
tlemen for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  be  taught,  etc.,  etc.  Are 
there  not  affluent  and  charitable  enough  to  promote  such  a 
design  ?  and  would  not  such  a  plan,  under  the  smiles  of 
Heaven,  be  likely  to  revive  and  continue'  the  purity  of  doc- 
trines, and  furnish  the  churches  in  this  land  with  the  ablest 
ministers  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  spite  of  all  opposers  ?  But  you 
know  my  genius  is  rather  to  frame  plans  than  to  execute.  This, 
however,  I  do  not  mean  as  a  plan,  but  only  a  hint  at  a  plan, 
or  a  thought  that  might  be  improved  into  a  plan,  —  the  most 
serviceable  in  the  cause  of  religion  of  anything,  perhaps,  ever 
set  on  foot  in  this  or  any  other  country.  I  wish  the  thought 
may  be  remembered  if  I  should  come  to  see  you,  for  I  have 


150  DR.    STEARNS'S    ADDRESS. 

really  meditated  a  visit,  if  I  can  overcome  *  *  and  procure 
a  change  with  Br.  Judson. 

"  '  Your  friend  and  brother, 

"  '  JONATHAN  FRENCH.'  " 

During  a  considerable  portion  of  his  ministry,  Mr.  French 
sustained  a  quasi  theological  school  in  his  own  family.  It  also 
appears  that  in  the  "  Historical  Sketch,"  delivered  by  Dr. 
Pearson  at  the  opening  of  the  Seminary,  the  Academy  is 
spoken  of  as  "  the  radix  of  the  Seminary,"  and  that  the  school 
of  Mr.  French  is  referred  to  as  "agreeable  to  the  principal 
design  of  the  founders,  and  the  express  object  of  the  fund  for 
the  support  of  students  in  theology." 

This  is  in  accordance  with  that  clause  in  the  will  of  Dr. 
John  Phillips  which  provides  for  'the  assistance  of  students 
in  the  study  of  Divinity,  under  the  direction  of  some  "  emi- 
nent Calvinistic  minister  of  the  gospel,  till  a  Theological  Pro- 
fessor should  be  employed  in  one  or  both  of  the  foremen- 
tioned  academies  "  (namely,  Andover  and  Exeter). 

Mr.  Phillips  contemplated  the  employing  of  a  regular  theo- 
logical professor  in  the  Academy,  as  soon  as  the  income  of 
his  endowment  for  the  purpose  would  allow  of  it. 

It  appears  from  the  correspondence  which  followed,  that 
Mr.  French  was  designated  by  him  for  this  place,  with 
the  intention  that  he  should  receive  compensation  for  his 
services  from  the  funds  of  the  Academy.  It  appears  further, 
that  Mr.  French  soon  after  entered  upon  his  duties  as  provis- 
ional Professor,  and  continued  in  that  office  till  the  Theologi- 
cal Seminary  was  started ;  that  he  received  <£10  the  first  year, 
and  that  the  sum  was  increased  from  time  to  time,  till  it  rose 
to  $80  in  1807. 

"  The  Constitution  and  Statutes  of  the  Theological  Sem- 
inary," says  the  Report  on  Deeds  and  Donations  which  was 
adopted  by  the  Trustees  in  1856,  "  as  established  by  the  foun- 
ders, Samuel  Abbot,  Esq.,  and  Madam  Phillips,  and  John 
Phillips,  Esq.,  were  all  composed  by  Mr.  Abbot's  privy  coun. 


DR.    STEARNS'S    ADDRESS.  151 

cil,  as  he  termed  it,  in  conference  with  himself,  sentence  by 
sentence,  as  were  also  his  several  wills,  devising  legacies  to 
the  Institution. 

"  This  council  consisted  of  Dr.  E.  Pearson,  Rev.  Jonathan 
French,  and  Samuel  Farrar,  Esquire  ;  and  from  the  commence- 
ment of  Mr.  Abbot's  efforts  to  establish  an  Institution  here, 
no  important  step  was  ever  taken  in  the  disposal  of  his  prop- 
erty without  full  consultation  with  them."  J 

1  Samuel  Abbot,  Esq.,  was  born  in  Andover,  in  1730,  and  died  April  30, 
1812.  During  middle  life  lie  was  a  successful  merchant  in  Boston.  His  latter 
years,  after  retiring  from  business,  were  spent  in  Andover.  His  property 
was  large,  and  his  heart  larger.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  giving  generous 
sums  for  the  benefit  of  his  native  town,  and  for  other  important  objects. 
Among  other  acts  of  benevolence  he  contributed  to  the  education  of  several 
young  men  at  Harvard  College,  and  bestowed  thousands  of  dollars  in  charity 
to  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  Besides  the  $20,000  given  to  found  the  Abbot 
Professorship,  he  made  the  Seminary  his  residuary  legatee,  by  which  means, 
after  some  legal  obstacles  had  been  removed,  the  Institution  came  into  pos- 
session of  lands,  buildings,  stocks,  etc.,  valued  at  about  $75,000. 

Mr.  Abbot  was  a  man  of  humble  pretensions  and  sterling  worth.  Devout, 
conscientious,  upright  and  equable  in  his  religion,  he  was  distinguished  for 
self-government,  charity  in  speech,  great  prudence  in  all  his  acts  and  dealings, 
and  a  large  spirit  of  Christian  benevolence.  He  had  long  taken  a  deep  interest 
in  the  education  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  At  first  his  charities  for  this  ob- 
ject had  begun  to  flow  towards  Harvard,  but  in  process  of  time  he  had  seen 
reasons  to  change  their  direction.  Who  first  suggested  to  him  the  idea  of  a 
large  establishment  for  the  education  of  Theological  Students  cannot  now, 
perhaps,  be  ascertained.  He  used  to  say  it  was  the  Spirit  of  God ;  a  position 
which  need  not  be  questioned,  whether  human  agency  was  or  was  not  em- 
ployed in  the  matter.  After  the  founding  of  the  Institution,  he  became  more 
and  more  deeply  interested  in  it.  He  made  it  an  object  of  constant  prayer, 
and  used  the  strictest  economy  in  all  his  expenses,  that  he  might  bestow  his 
savings  upon  it.  As  he  had  no  children,  he  adopted  the  Seminary  for  the 
outflow  of  his  pious  parental  affections,  and  made  it  his  heir.  In  theological 
opinion  he  was  accustomed  to  say  that  he  was  a  "  middle  man  "  —  meaning, 
according  to  the  language  of  the  times,  that  he  did  not  go  to  the  extremes  of 
Hopkinsianism  on  the  one  hand,  and  was  no  Arminian  on  the  other ;  but,  like 


152  DR.    STEARNS'S    ADDRESS. 

This  council  had  much  to  do  in  modifying  and  moulding 
the  Statutes,  and  especially  in  constructing  the  Creed  of  the 
Associate  Founders,  so  as  to  render  it  unexceptionable  to  all 
concerned,  and  a  ground  of  union  between  the  Hopkinsian 
interest  at  Newburyport  and  the  older  Calvinism  at  Andover. 
In  bringing  about  this  result,  and  securing  the  amalgamation 
of  the  two  parties,  Dr.  Pearson  took  a  prominent  part,  and  made 
for  the  purpose,  as  has  been  stated  by  the  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy, 
more  than  thirty  journeys  from  Andover  to  Newburyport. 

Mr.  French,  on  the  other  hand,  looked  upon  the  contem- 
plated union  with  considerable  distrust,  partly  from  his  dislike 
to  some  of  the  extreme  Hopkinsian  views,  which  were  made 
prominent  at  the  time,  partly  from  a  natural  distrust  as  to  the 
influence  upon  the  interests  of  his  own  parish,  of  the  intro- 
duction of  this  new  element  into  it,  and  partly,  perhaps,  from 
the  sacrifice,  which  the  union  involved,  of  some  of  his  favorite 
plans  in  reference  to  the  appointment  of  the  first  Professor  on 
the  Abbot  foundation.  Mr.  French,  however,  cheerfully  sur- 
rendered all  his  personal  preferences  and  feelings,  and  set 
aside  his  misgivings  for  the  sake  of  what  he  supposed  to  be  a 
great  public  interest  in  the  building  up  of  Christ's  kingdom. 
He  accordingly  voted  for  the  union,  in  common  with  the  rest 
of  the  Andover  Trustees,  —  Dr.  Dana,  of  Newburyport,  only 
excepted. 

From  the  part  taken  by  Mr.  French  in  the  establishment  of 
the  Seminary,  his  theological  views  have  become  a  question 
of  no  small  interest.  They  have  been  variously  represented 
by  persons  who  never  knew  him  thoroughly,  or  who,  owing 
to  the  position  of  parties  about  the  time  of  his  death  and  af- 


his  pastor  and  the  Pliillipses,  was  a  Calvinlst  after  the  model  of  the  Assembly's 
Shorter  Catechism.  Mr.  Abbot  was  the  intimate  personal  friend  of  Mr. 
French,  as  well  as  his  parishioner.  He  placed  in  him  an  almost  unbounded 
confidence,  conferred  with  him  habitually  in  the  bestowment  of  his  charities, 
and  made  him  a  special  counsellor  in  all  his  acts  of  beneficence  towards  the 
Seminary. 


DR.    STEARNS'S    ADDRESS.  153 

terwards,  and  to  other  circumstances,  might  easily  be  led  into 
error  concerning  him.  There  was  a  certain  vague  impression 
apparent  in  the  minds  of  some,  chiefly  in  or  about  the  Sem- 
inary, when  I  was  a  member  of  it,  now  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago,  that  the  entire  soundness  of  Mr.  French's 
orthodoxy  might  be  questioned.  It  was  insinuated  rather 
than  affirmed  that  he  probably  had  Arminian  tendencies ;  that 
practically  he  encouraged  sinners  to  "  wait  on  God  "  in  the 
use  of  means,  instead  of  insisting  on  immediate  repentance  ; 
and  it  has  quite  recently  been  stated  by  the  biographer  of  Dr. 
Justin  Edwards,  Mr.  French's  successor,  that  until  Mr.  Ed- 
wards's  settlement,  evidence  of  regeneration  had  never  been 
required  in  the  church  as  a  necessary  qualification  for  mem- 
bership. But  I  am  sure  that  all  intimations  and  impressions 
of  this  character  were  unfounded. 

Popular  and  practical,  rather  than  metaphysical,  in  his 
preaching,  Mr.  French  was  yet  discriminating,  uniform,  con- 
sistent, and  unmistakable  in  his  statements  of  doctrines. 
He  was  a  mild  but  decided  Calvinist.  Not  a  high,  rigid  Cal- 
vinist  on  the  one  hand,  pushing  peculiarities  to  extremes ; 
not  a  semi- Calvinist,  nor  a  moderate  Calvinist — in  any  sense 
of  the  word  moderate  which  implies  laxity,  —  but  an  orthodox 
Calvinist  of  the  early  New  England  stamp.  He  was  not  an 
Arminian.  He  had  no  Arminian  tendencies.  His  aversion  to 
that  system  was  strong  and  intelligent,  though  in  common 
with  most  of  the  Calvinists  of  that  day,  he  was  accustomed 
to  exchange  occasionally  with  such  Trinitarian  Arminians  as 
Dr.  Symmes,  of  the  North  Parish  in  Andover,  and  Dr.  Cum- 
mings,  of  Billerica,  as  well  as  with  the  Hopkinsian  preachers 
of  the  time. 

Hopkinsianism  early  attracted  his  attention,  but  failed  to 
secure  his  entire  approval.  Some  of  its  tenets,  which  were 
pushed  to  an  extreme  during  the  latter  part  of  his  ministry, 
were  regarded  with  strong  aversion  by  him ;  particularly  that 
God  had  predestinated  the  wickedness  of  the  wicked,  and 
their  destruction,  not  by  way  of  permission  of  moral  evil,  as 

20 


154  DK.    STEAKNS'S    ADDRESS. 

incidental  to  his  system,  but  in  the  same  manner  as  He  had 
predestinated  the  righteousness  of  the  righteous,  and  their 
salvation  ;  —  that  "  a  person  must  be  willing  to  be  damned, 
in  order  to  be  saved ; "  —  that,  as  all  the  works  of  unregen- 
erate  men  are  an  abomination  to  God,  "  the  sinner  should  not 
be  encouraged  to  use  means  for  his  own  conversion,"  etc.  He 
also  distrusted  the  tendency  of  some  of  the  Hopkinsian 
positions,  and  used  to  say  to  Dr.  Emmons,  who  was  his 
brother-in-law,  and  with  whom  he  had  much  pleasant  inter- 
course, and  free  theological  discussion  :  "  You  are  so  anxious 
to  avoid  Arminianism,  that  you  go  clear  round  and  fall  into 
it  on  the  other  side  of  the  circle."  Still,  Mr.  French  was  not 
an  embittered  dissentient  from  the  Hopkinsians  of  his  day, 
but  freely  exchanged  with  them,  and  often  defended  their 
candidates  before  ordaining  councils.i 

Mr.  French  died  suddenly,  July  28,  1809,  within  about  a 
year  after  the  Seminary  was  opened,  and  before  he  had  time 
to  become  fully  known  to  the  new  comers. 

I  think  myself  happy — personalities  apart — after  the  lapse 
of  half  a  century,  in  having  the  opportunity  to  exhibit  some- 

1  In  the  manuscript  report  which  Dr.  Stearns  has  furnished  of  his  speech, 
he  adduces  in  favor  of  these  views  of  the  character  and  theology  of  Mr. 
French,  first,  the  testimony  of  persons  who  knew  him  well,  such  as  Rev.  Mr. 
Reynolds,  Rev.  Micah  Stone,  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  senior,  Rev.  Dr.  French, 
of  Northampton,  N.  H.,  his  own  father  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Stearns,  of  Bed- 
ford, who  was  Mr.  French's  pupil  in  theology,  as  well  as  his  son-in-law,  and 
Esquire  Farrar,  and  Dea.  Newman,  of  Andover ;  and  secondly,  quotations 
at  length  from  his  manuscript  sermons,  showing  his  views  in  regard  to  "  Re- 
generation," the  "  Power  of  the  Spirit,"  the  "  Way  to  be  Saved  and  the  use 
of  Means,"  "  Immediate  Repentance,"  that  "  Inability  consists  in  indisposi- 
tion," "  Qualifications  for  the  Lord's  Supper,"  and  "  Justification."  The  evi- 
dences thus  obtained  abundantly  illustrate  the  views  which  Dr.  Stearns  has 
taken  of  the  character  and  theological  opinions  of  Mr.  French.  The  entire 
manuscript  is  highly  interesting  and  valuable  ;  and  yet  a  just  regard  to  sym- 
metry and  proportion  would  not  permit  the  publication  of  the  whole  of  it  in 
the  record  of  this  anniversary. 


THE    DINNER.  155 

thing  of  the  character — placing  it  as  I  believe  he  would  have 
it  placed  —  of  an  able,  earnest,  laborious,  and  faithful  minister 
of  Christ,  and  one  who  bore  an  important  part  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  Institution  which  must  be  considered  as 
among  the  greatest  blessings  which  God  has  bestowed  upon 
the  church  of  modern  days. 

To  illustrate  the  contrast  between  the  ceremonies  of 
inaugurating  a  Professor,  as  witnessed  in  the  morning, 
and  half  a  century  before,  the  President  here  humor- 
ously called  up  the  Principal  of  the  Academy,  Samuel 
H.  Taylor,  LL.D.,  to  recite  Dr.  Pearson's  Latin  formu- 
lary, used  on  the  occasion  of  Professor  Stuart's  induction 
to  the  chair  of  Sacred  Literature,  February  28,  1810. 
Mr.  Taylor  was  directed  to  give  an  elegant  translation 
of  the  paragraphs  as  he  proceeded,  but  on  responding 
to  the  call  suggested  that  so  learned  an  audience  must 
be  supposed  capable  of  making  the  translation  for  them- 
selves. This  vestige  of  the  olden  times  commences,  as 
the  Professor  elect  concludes  his  reading  of  the  pre- 
scribed creed: 

"Dcmine  Reverende.  Symbolum  et  Promissa,  modo  rep- 
etita,  proximo  sunt  tibi  subscribenda. 

Curatores,  Senatusque  Academicus,  Viri  Honorandi  admo- 
dum  ac  Reverendi,  omnibus,  quae  in  Constitutione  Statutisque 
Conditorum  postulantur,  tandem  aliquando  peractis;  quid 
restat,  nisi  Professor  electus  et  comprobatus,  pro  more  Insti- 
tutionis  Theologicae  nostrae,  extemplo  renuncietur  ? 

Placeatne  Domini  ? 

Pro  auctoritate  mihi  commissa,  te  Reverende  Moses  Stuart, 
Literarum  Sacrarum  Professorem  Consociatum  in  Academia 
Theologica  nostra  public^  renuncio  ;  rituque  solenni  insuper 
tibi  do  et  concede  insignia  omnia,  jura,  et  privilegia,  honores 


156  DR.  WAYLAND'S  ADDRESS. 

ac  dignitates,  quae  ad  munus  istiusmodi  pertinent,  aut  perti- 
nere  debent. 

Oratio  inauguralis  tua,  Domine  Reverende  Professor,  mine 
expectatur.  Sacrum  in  hoc  rostrum,  si  placeat,  ascende. 

At  the  close  of  this  interlude,  Dr.  Francis  Wayland, 
late  President  of  Brown  University,  rose  at  the  call  of 
the  Chair,  and  paid  a  tribute  to  Professor  Stuart,  his  be- 
loved teacher  and  friend,  in  the  ensuing 


ADDRESS. 

You  desire  me,  Mr.  President,  to  speak  of  the  character 
and  services  of  the  late  Professor  Stuart.  It  would  be  im- 
possible for  me  here  to  speak  on  any  other  subject.  Since 
my  arrival  in  Andover,  after  an  absence  of  thirty  or  forty 
years,  I  can  think  of  no  one  else.  There  were  other  great  and 
venerable  men  who  occupied  the  chairs  of  instruction  while 
I  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  this  Institution ;  but  Moses  Stuart 
was  my  only  teacher,  for  I  left  at  the  close  of  the  first  year, 
and  his  name  is  associated  with  all  my  recollections  of  An- 
dover, as  that  of  no  other  man  can  be.  As  I  look  around  me, 
he  is  ever  present  to  my  mind's  eye.  I  see  his  long  Indian 
lope  as  he  strode  over  the  old  plank-walk,  on  his  way  to  the 
recitation  room ;  I  there  gaze  upon  that  "  bending  lip  that 
upward  curled,  and  eye  that  seemed  to  scorn  the  world  ; "  I 
hear  the  tones  of  that  voice,  which  more  than  almost  any  other 
that  I  remember,  seemed  to  open  a  way  from  the  heart  of  the 
speaker  to  that  of  the  hearer.  I  hear  that  laugh  in  sportive- 
ness,  or  exultation,  or  defiance.  I  hear  and  see  all  this,  as 
though  it  were.but  yesterday  that  I  sat  at  his  feet,  and  drank 
in  instruction  from  his  lips. 

I  well  remember  my  first  introduction  to  the  man  to  whom 
I  owe  so  much.  It  occurred  in  the  stage  coach,  between  Bos- 


DR.  WAYLAND'S   ADDRESS.  157 

ton  and  Andover,  when  I  was  coming  to  enter  the  Seminary. 
Professor  Stuart  and  the  late  Rev.  Sereno  Dwight,  were  among 
the  passengers.  The  conversation  between  these  two  eminent 
men  turned  mainly  on  the  Unitarian  controversy,  which  was 
then  occupying  a  large  share  of  the  public  attention.  It  was 
well  worth  a  journey  to  Andover  to  witness  the  movement  of 
Professor  Stuart's  mind  upon  this  question.  While  he  spoke 
with  the  highest  respect  of  the  talents  and  learning  of  those 
from  whom  he  differed,  the  unshaken,  elastic,  and  joyous  con- 
fidence with  which  he  held  the  truth  which  he  believed  stirred 
your  mind  like  the  sound  of  a  trumpet.  He  was  ready  at 
any  moment  to  enter  upon  the  controversy,  and  carry  it  to  the 
utmost  limits  of  exegetical  inquiry.  All  he  wanted  was  a 
fair  field  and  no  favor.  All  he  wished  for  was  the  triumph  of 
truth,  and  he  was  ready  at  any  time  to  surrender  this,  or  any 
religious  belief  which  he  held,  if  he  could  not,  on  the  acknowl- 
edged principles  of  interpretation,  show  that  it  was  taught  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  He  had  examined  the  New  Testament 
for  himself,  he  knew  what  it  taught,  and  he  panted  for  a  fit 
occasion  of  entering  into  the  conflict  for  the  truth  that  he  be- 
lieved. I  could  compare  him  to  nothing  but  Job's  war-horse, 
"  He  saith  among  the  trumpets,  ha !  ha !  and  he  smelleth  the 
battle  afar  off,  the  thunder  of  the  captains  and  the  shouting." 
But  in  the  midst  of  this  exultant  confidence  in  what  he  believed 
to  be  true,  there  was  not  the  remotest  trace  of  malice  or  un- 
kindness ;  on  the  contrary,  the  tone  of  his  mind  was  joyous 
and  even  sportive.  In  the  midst  of  this  conversation,  it 
chanced  that  we  passed  a  spot  where  an  excavation  had  been 
made  on  the  side  of  the  road,  and  some  boulders  of  iron  ore 
which  were  exposed  had  become  discolored  by  oxidation. 
He  turned  to  Mr.  Dwight,  and  remarked :  "  You  see,  Brother 
Dwight,  that  we  use  iron  ox-hides  here." 

If  I  rightly  estimate  Professor  Stuart,  it  was  not  in  the 
more  ordinary  elements  of  mental  character  that  he  so  much 
differed  from  other  men.  Like  other  men  of  decided  ability, 
he  was  endowed  with  large  power  of  acquisition,  great  acute- 


158  DR.  WAYLAND'S  ADDRESS. 

ness,  wide  generalization,  a  very  retentive  memory,  and  un- 
usual soundness  of  judgment.     It  was  not,  however,  to  his 
preeminence  in  these,  that  he  owed  his  power.     That  which 
above  all  things  else  made  him  what  he  was,  was  an  intense, 
unflagging,  exhaustless  earnestness,  which  obliged  every  fac- 
ulty to  seize  with  its  whole  power  on  every  subject  presented 
to  it.     His  motto  was  totus  in  illis,  and  no  man  ever  exem- 
plified it  more  perfectly  in  every  pursuit  of  his  life.    No  matter 
whether  the  subject  were  great  or  small,  if  he  thought  upon 
it  at  all,  it  was  with  an  absorbing  interest.     Connected  with 
this  were,  instinctive  exultation  in  success,  and  mortification  at 
even  the  fear  of  failure.     He  could  not  be  satisfied  with  any- 
thing that  he  had  done,  unless  he  had  done  it  as  well  as  he 
could.     To  fail,  after  he  had  done  all  in  his  power  to  secure 
success,  troubled  him,  whether  in  his  garden,  on  his  farm,  or  in 
his  study.     I  well  remember  that  on  one  occasion  he  needed 
a  little  assistance  in  getting  in  his  hay,  and  indicated  to  his 
class  that  he  would  be  gratified  if  some  of  us  would  help  him 
for  an  hour  or  two.     There  was,  of  course,  a  general  turn  out. 
The  crop  was  a  sorry  one,  and  as  I  was  raking  near  him,  I  in- 
timated to  him  something  of  the  kind.     I  shall  never  forget 
his  reply.     "  Bah  !  was  there  ever  climate  and  soil  like  this  ! 
Manure  the  land  as  much  as  you  will,  it  all  leaches  through 
this  gravel,  and  very  soon  not  a  trace  of  it  can  be  seen.     If  you 
plant  early,  everything  is  liable  to  be  cut  off  by  the  late  frosts 
of  spring.     If  you  plant  late,  your  crop  is  destroyed  by  the 
early  frosts  of  autumn.     If  you   escape  these,  the   burning 
sun  of  summer  scorches  your  crop,  and  it  perishes  by  heat 
and  drought.     If  none  of  these  evils  overtake  you,  clouds  of 
insects  eat  up  your  crop,  and  what  the  caterpillar  leaves  the 
canker-worm  devours."     Spoken  in  his  deliberate  and  solemn 
utterance,  I  could  compare  it  to  nothing  but  the  maledictions 
of  one  of  the  old  prophets.     I  trust  that  both  the  climate  and 
soil  of  this  hill  of  Zion  have  improved  since  I  last  raked  hay 
here  in  Professor  Stuart's  meadow. 

The  full  tide  of  this  earnestness  was,  however,  reserved 


*    DR.  WAY  LAND'S  ADDRESS.  159 

for  the  investigation  and  discovery  of  truth,  as  it  is  revealed 
to  us  in  the  Scriptures.  To  this,  every  available  hour  of 
his  life  was  consecrated.  No  earthly  pleasure  would  have 
weighed  with  him  for  a  moment,  in  comparison  with  the  joy 
of  throwing  some  new  light  upon  a  passage  of  the  word  of 
God.  For  this  he  labored,  for  this  he  prayed,  for  this  he  lived ; 
and  one  of  the  most  animating  views  which  he  enjoyed  of 
heaven  was,  that  there  he  should  know  all  divine  truth  with 
a  spirit  unclouded  and  unembarrassed  by  the  imperfections 
of  sense. 

We  should  have  a  very  inadequate  idea  of  the  earnestness 
of  his  love  of  truth,  did  we  not  remember  the  difficulties 
which  it  encountered.  Professor  Stuart  was  through  life  a 
confirmed  invalid,  the  victim  of  incessant  dyspepsia,  and  of 
unconquerable  sleeplessness.  He  was  enabled  to  devote  to 
study  but  three  hours  a  day,  and  these  were  granted  to  him 
only  on  the  condition  that  he  consumed  almost  all  the  re- 
maining hours  in  the  struggle  against  disease.  His  sleep 
was  always  broken  and  interrupted,  and  if  he  spent  an  addi- 
tional hour  in  study,  he  could  not  sleep  at  all.  When  the 
brief  period  of  study  was  completed  he  devoted  himself  to 
exercise,  reading  of  books  bearing  upon  his  studies,  as  travels, 
reviews,  etc.,  or  in  conversing  with  his  pupils.  It  was  with 
so  imperfect  a  physical  organization  that  his  intellectual 
triumphs  were  achieved.  Most  men  would  have  considered 
high  effort  under  such  circumstances  an  impossibility,  and  re- 
linquished the  attempt  in  utter  despair. 

I  have  spoken  of  Professor  Stuart  as  endowed  with  great 
accuracy  of  judgment.  Here  I  ought,  perhaps,  to  add  a  word 
of  explanation.  Like  men  of  his  strongly  nervous  tempera- 
ment, the  action  of  his  mind  was  rapid,  and  his  impromptu 
opinions  were  frequently  erroneous.  But  when  he  gave  him- 
self time,  and  really  did  justice  to  himself,  few  men  were,  in 
fact,  more  reliable.  This  was  in  part  the  result  of  his  large 
and  varied  knowledge,  and  extensive  observation,  but  more 
than  all,  of  the  noble  unselfishness  of  his  nature.  I  remem- 


160  DR.  WAYLAND'S   ADDRESS.    * 

ber  to  have  heard  it  remarked,  that  at  the  Convention,  some 
forty  years  since,  for  the  alteration  of  the  constitution  of  this 
State,  when  the  question  was  agitated  whether  the  laws  for 
the  support  of  religion,  which  created  an  invidious  distinction 
in  favor  of  Congregationalism,  should  be  abolished ;  nearly  all 
the  oldest  and  wisest  of  the  orthodox  clergy  strongly  resisted 
any  change.  Professor  Stuart,  almost  alone,  opposed  them 
manfully,  and  in  so  doing  suffered  somewhat  for  a  time  in 
the  estimation  of  his  brethren.  He  declared  that  the  State 
had  no  right  to  interfere  in  the  matter  of  religion,  and  that 
Congregationalists  possessed  no  rights  whatever  which  they 
ought  not  to  share  equally  with  Christians  of  every  other  de- 
nomination. After  the  lapse  of  a  few  years,  every  one  was 
convinced  that  he  was  right,  his  elder  brethren  became  con- 
verts to  his  opinion,  and  .no  one  doubted  then  as  to  the  far- 
seeing  wisdom  of  Mr.  Stuart. 

It  however  becomes  me  more  especially  to  speak  of  Pro- 
fessor Stuart  as  an  instructor.  It  has  been  my  good  fortune, 
during  the  latter  part  of  my  student-life,  to  enjoy  the  instruc- 
tions of  two  very  eminent  men.  One  yet  lives,  and,  at  the 
age  of  nearly  fourscore  and  ten,  with  his  eye  not  dim,  though 
his  bodily  force  is  abated,  still  presides  over  the  institution 
of  which  for  more  than  half  a  century  he  has  been  the  most 
distinguished  ornament.  Clarum  et  venerabile  nomen  ! 
Long  may  he  live  to  adorn  and  bless  humanity,  and  temper 
the  brilliancy  of  eminent  ability,  with  the  mild  lustre  of  every 
Christian  virtue. 

The  other  was  Moses  Stuart,  whose  name  for  so  many 
years  was  a  tower  of  strength  in  this  Institution.  If  I  do 
not  misjudge,  he  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  teachers  of 
his  age.  His  acquaintance  with  his  subject  in  the  class-room 
was  comprehensive  and  minute.  There  was  no  sacrifice  in 
his  power  which  he  did  not  rejoice  to  make,  if  by  it  he  could 
promote  the  progress  of  his  pupils.  It  seemed  as  if  all  that 
he  asked  of  us  was,  that  we  should  aid  him  in  his  efforts  to 
confer  upon  us  the  greatest  amount  of  benefit.  He  allowed 


DR.  WAYLAND'S  ADDRESS.  161 

and  encouraged  the  largest  freedom  of  inquiry  in  the  recita- 
tion room,  and  was  never  impatient  of  any  questioning  if  the 
object  of  it  was  either  to  elicit  truth  or  detect  error.  The  spirit 
which  animated  his  class  was  that  of  a  company  of  well  edu- 
cated young  men,  earnestly  engaged  in  ascertaining  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  of  God,  under  the  guidance  of  one  who  had 
made  every  sentence  and  every  word  in  the  original  languages 
the  object  of  special  and  successful  study. 

This  alone  would  have  been  sufficient  to  place  Moses 
Stuart  in  the  first  class  of  instructors.  But  to  this  he  added 
a  power  of  arousing  enthusiasm  such  as  I  have  never  else- 
where seen.  The  burning  earnestness  of  his  own  spirit 
kindled  to  a  flame  everything  that  came  into  contact  with  it. 
We  saw  the  exultation  which  brightened  his  eye  and  irradi- 
ated his  whole  countenance,  if  he  had  discovered  some  new 
use  of  Vaf  conversive  which  threw  light  upon  a  phrase  of  the 
Old  Testament,  or,  if  by  some  law  of  the  Greek  article  a 
saying  of  Jesus  could  be  rendered  more  definite  and  precise, 
and  we  all  shared  in  his  joy.  We  caught  his  spirit,  and  felt 
that  life  was  valuable  for  little  else  than  to  explain  to  men 
the  teachings  of  the  well  beloved  Son  of  God.  If  any  one 
of  us  had  barely  possessed  the  means  sufficient  to  buy  a  coat, 
or  to  buy  a  lexicon,  I  do  not  believe  that  a  man  of  us  would 
for  a  moment  have  hesitated.  The  old  coat  would  have  been 
called  upon  for  another  year's  service,  and  the  student  would 
have  gloried  over  his  Schleusner,  as  one  that  findeth  great 
spoil.  It  seemed  as  though,  in  his  class-room,  we  became 
acquainted  with  all  the  learned  and  good  of  the  past  and  the 
present ;  we  entered  into  and  we  shared  their  labors ;  we  were 
co-workers  with  them  and  with  our  teacher,  who  was  the  me- 
dium of  intercourse  between  us  and  them.  We  hung  upon 
his  lips  in  the  class-room.  We  coveted  his  sayings  in  his 
walks  or  at  the  fire-side,  and  any  one  of  us  was  rich  for  a 
week,  who  could  report  his  obiter  dicta,  ever  replete  with  wit, 
learning,  and  generous,  soul-stirring  enthusiasm. 

With  all  this  love  of  inquiry,  his  discipline  in  the  recitation 

21 


162  DE.  WAYLAND'S  ADDRESS. 

room  was  strict  and  exacting.  He  expected  every  man  to  be 
like  himself,  totus  in  illis,  and  his  expectation  was  rarely  dis- 
appointed. His  reverence  for  the  word  of  God  was  deep  and 
all-pervading.  I  remember  but  one  instance  under  his  teach- 
ing of  what  seemed  to  be  a  trifling  with  the  word  of  God.  The 
offender,  who  was  odd,  opinionated,  and  constitutionally  want- 
ing in  reverence,  had  read  an  essay  which  seemed  intended 
to  create  a  laugh.  The  rebuke  which  he  received  was  such 
that  we  all  quailed  in  our  seats.  I  fancy  that  many  years 
elapsed  before  such  an  experiment  was  attempted  in  his  lec- 
ture-room again.  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  better  illustrate 
the  effect  of  his  teaching  upon  his  pupils,  than  by  stating  my 
own  experience  in  a  single  particular.  My  acquaintance  with 
Professor  Stuart  continued  until  his  death.  He  always  treated 
me  with  particular  kindness,  and  was  frequently  a  guest  at 
my  house.  He  invariably  addressed  me,  after  my  settlement 
in  the  ministry,  as  "  brother."  I,  however,  could  never  recip- 
rocate it.  I  could  no  more  have  called  him  brother  than  I 
could  have  thus  addressed  my  own  venerated  father. 

Speaking  of  the  kindness  of  Professor  Stuart  recalls  an- 
other subject  to  which  I  ask  leave  here  in  this  presence  to 
make  an  allusion.  I  came  here  from  what  was  then  consid- 
ered a  distant  part  of  the  country,  wholly  unknown,  and  as 
some  of  you  may  have  heard,  was  then,  and  ever  have  been, 
a  Baptist.  Until  I  came  here,  there  was  not  an  individual  in 
Andover  whom  I  had  ever  seen.  The  lines  which  distin- 
guished the  denominations  of  Christians  from  each  other  were 
more  distinctly  visible  then  than  now.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, the  question  may  be  asked,  was  I  here  treated  with 
entire  impartiality?  I  feel  bound  to  answer  it  with  truth, 
and  I  must  say  that  I  think  now,  and  I  thought  then,  that  I 
was  not  treated  with  strict  impartiality.  I  think  that  because 
I  was  a  stranger  and  a  member  of  another  denomination,  I 
was  treated  with  a  degree  of  kindness  to  which  I  had  not  the 
shadow  of  a  claim,  and  which  it  would  be  base  in  me,  did  I 
not  here,  in  this  public  manner,  thankfully  acknowledge.  I 


DR.  WAYLAND'S  ADDRESS.  163 

hope  I  have  not  forgotten  the  lesson,  and  I  think  I  see  faces 
in  this  assembly  who  would  testify,  that,  under  other  circum- 
stances, 1  have  delighted  to  put  it  in  practice.  I  need  hardly 
add  that  this  partiality  has  continued  unabated  to  the  pres- 
ent moment,  or  I  should  not  have  been  requested,  in  the 
presence  of  such  men  as  I  see  before  me  here,  to  speak  in 
commemoration  of  my  instructor  and  friend. 

If  now  we  turn  for  a  few  moments  to  the  services  of  Pro- 
fessor Stuart,  we  must,  first  of  all,  remember  the  circum- 
stances under  which  his  career  commenced.  It  was  at  a  time 
when  the  question  was  contemptuously  asked,  "  Who  reads 
an  American  book  ?  "  Hardly  an  American  author  had  ever 
been  republished  in  Europe.  There  were  among  us  very  few 
scholars,  and  there  was  here  none  of  the  apparatus  by  which 
scholarship  is  made.  There  was  not  an  institution  in  the 
United  States  that  possessed  what  could  be  properly  termed 
a  respectable  library.  He  went  forth  alone  to  his  great  work, 
with  the  sentiment  of  Bacon  in  his  heart,  aut  viam  inveniam,  aut 
faciam.  He  made  his  own  grammars.  He  published  his  own 
Chrestomathy ;  he  gave  to  the  world  commentaries  of  which 
any  country  may  be  proud,  while  his  contributions  to  sacred 
literature  in  separate  treatises  and  in  periodicals  would  almost 
make  a  library  of  themselves. 

To  this  let  us  add  the  impression  which  he  produced  on 
his  classes.  For  nearly  forty  years  a  company  of  young  men 
annually  left  this  Institution,  imbued  with  his  spirit,  zealous 
in  the  pursuit  of  all  good  learning,  and  especially  of  biblical 
science,  and  they  were  dispersed  over  every  State  in  the 
Union.  Of  these  a  large  portion  have  attained  the  highest 
eminence  in  the  studies  to  which  he  introduced  them.  Sir 
Humphrey  Davy,  when  complimented  on  his  discoveries,  re- 
plied, that  the  greatest  discovery  he  had  ever  made,  was  that 
of  the  genius  of  Michael  Faraday.  So  Moses  Stuart,  by  gen- 
erously fostering  eminent  talent  in  his  own  department,  has 
raised  up  for  the  church  some  of  its  brightest  ornaments,  and 
has  given  to  biblical  learning  a  place  in  this  country  second 


164  DR.  WAYLAND'S  ADDRESS. 

to  none  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  nation.  Great  Britain,  at  the 
present  day,  can,  I  think,  show  nothing  that  can  compare  with 
the  Seminary  at  Andover,  and  the  scholars  whom  Andover 
has  nourished.  It  is  said,  I  know,  by  way  of  depreciating 
the  merits  of  Professor  Stuart,  that  in  their  several  depart- 
ments many  of  his  pupils  have  surpassed  him  in  depth  of 
scholarship  and  accuracy  of  research.  Be  it  so;  but  who 
taught  them  to  surpass  him  ?  Be  it  so,  but  who  marked 
out  the  road,  and  levelled  the  forest,  and  established  the  grade, 
and  laid  the  rails,  on  which  we  now  travel  so  easily  ?  What 
does  it  detract  from  the  glory  of  Columbus,  that  it  took  him 
sixty  or  seventy  days  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  which  we  cross 
in  ten  ?  If  he  had  not  shown  us  the  way,  we  should  never 
have  crossed  it  at  all. 

And  then,  again,  remember  the  effect  of  his  teaching  on 
Theological  Seminaries.  From  Andover  all  the  institutions 
in  New  England  and  the  Northern  States  have  had  their 
origin.  Their  teachers  of  theology  and  rhetoric  might  be 
sought  for  elsewhere,  but  for  teachers  in  sacred  literature  and 
interpretation  they  are  almost  all  indebted  to  the  instructions 
of  Professor  Stuart.  On  the  work  of  Missions  his  influence 
has  been  hardly  less  decisive.  The  Scriptures  have  been 
translated  by  American  missionaries  into  the  languages  of 
uncounted  millions,  and  their  translators  learned  the  science 
of  interpretation  from  the  lips  of  our  venerated  master,  and 
at  every  stage  of  their  progress  received  his  encouragement, 
advice,  and  assistance. 

Nor  is  it  to  sacred  literature  alone  that  the  benign  influence 
of  Professor  Stuart's  precept  and  example  have  extended. 
When  he  commenced  his  labors  here,  classical  literature  was 
at  its  lowest  ebb  in  this  country.  It  used  to  be  mentioned, 
when  I  was  a  student -in  yonder  old  building,  that  a  tutor  of 
one  of  our  New  England  colleges,  at  Mr.  Stuart's  recitation, 
came  to  a  pause  in  declining  a  Greek  noun  of  the  first  declen- 
sion. Professor  Stuart's  labors  had  continued  here  but  a  very 
few  years,  before  a  new  spirit  was  breathed  into  the  classical 


DR.   WAYLAND'S  ADDRESS.  165 


instruction  of  every  college  in  New  England.  When  a  Tutor 
or  a  Professor  of  Languages  was  needed  in  any  college,  there 
was  but  one  course  suggested,  "  Send  for  a  man  from  Ando- 
ver."  His  spirit  was  thus  breathed  into  all  our  institutions 
of  learning,  and  his  influence  in  this  respect  may  be  fairly 
measured  by  contrasting  the  study  of  the  classics  forty  years 
ago  with  what  it  is  on  this  5th  of  August,  1858. 

If,  then,  we  would  estimate  the  labors  of  Moses  Stuart,  la- 
bors performed  amidst  sickness,  and  pain,  and  weariness,  and 
sleeplessness,  we  must  begin  by  spreading  before  us  his  gram- 
mars, commentaries,  and  various  works  on  hermeneutics,  in 
Greek  and  Hebrew,  with  its  cognate  languages.  Upon  them 
we  will  place  the  love  of  the  original  study  of  the  Bible,  which 
he  diffused  over  the  ministry  of  every  denomination  in  this 
country.  Upon  this  we  will  place  his  influence  upon  the  es- 
tablishment of  Theological  Seminaries.  Upon  this  we  will 
place  the  aid  which  he  has  rendered  to  those  who  have  trans- 
lated the  oracles  of  God  into  the  languages  of  the  heathen. 
Upon  this  we  will  place  tha  progress  in  classical  learning 
which  has  been  inaugurated  under  his  auspices.  And  having 
thus  raised  our  monument,  we  will  encircle  it  with  a  wreath, 
on  which  shall  be  inscribed  the  names  of  those  eminent  bib- 
lical scholars,  the  living  and  the  dead,  who  have  placed  them- 
selves, primi  inter  pares,  among  the  biblical  scholars  of  the 
world,  and  who  owe  their  first  and  best  impulses  to  the  ex- 
ample and  encouragement  of  our  master.  Having  done  this 
I  will  ask  you,  and  all  of  you,  to  say  who  of  the  present  age 
has  raised  for  himself  a  prouder,  a  more  glorious,  a  more 
perennial  monument.  And  when  the  history  of  biblical  learn- 
ing in  this  country  shall  be  written,  and  the  names  of  those 
who  have  done  worthily  shall  shine  in  letters  of  light,  who 
can  doubt  that  the  first  place  on  that  roll  will,  by  universal 
consent,  be  inscribed  with  the  name  of  MOSES  STUART  ? 

While  Dr.  Wayland  was  in  the  full  glow  of  his 
eulogy,  a  sheet  still  damp  from  the  press  in  Boston  was 


166  THE    ATLANTIC     CABLE. 

handed  to  the  President,  by  his  friend,  Alpheus  Hardy, 
Esq.,  —  a  Trustee  of  the  Institution,  —  who  had  just 
arrived  in  the  train ;  and  the  excited  looks,  and  move- 
ments, and  hurried  whisperings  of  one  and  another 
near  the  chair,  showed  that  there  were  tidings  of  some 
great  event.  As  the  vague  tremor  ran  like  an  electric 
thrill  from  seat  to  seat,  each  one  half  hearing  or  guess- 
ing the  news,  Dr.  Wayland  concluded,  and  the  Presi- 
dent immediately  rose  and  said  : 

It  will  be  recollected  that  at  the  meeting  last  evening,  Dr. 
Budington  spoke  of  Dr.  Morse  and  the  great  submarine  en- 
terprise in  which  his  son  is  engaged.  We  little  thought  then 
that  this  anniversary  would  be  distinguished  by  the  consum- 
mation of  that  great  undertaking ;  *  * 

Instantly,  at  this  announcement,  without  waiting  for 
details,  the  multitudes  present  interrupted  him,  with 
such  a  tumult  of  cheers,  shouts,  clapping  of  hands, 
pounding  of  tables,  swinging  of  hats,  waving  of  hand- 
kerchiefs, and  other  demonstrations  of  uncontrollable 
excitement,  as  is  seldom  witnessed. 

As  soon  as  a  moment's  calm  could  be  secured,  the 
President  read  to  the  agitated  and  wondering  crowd 
from  the  Boston  Evening  Journal : 

THE    ATLANTIC     CABLE 

SUCCESSFULLY  LAID! 
THE     COMMUNICATION    PEEFECT! 

ARRIVAL  OF  THE  NIAGARA  AT  TRINITY  BAY  ! 


LETTER  FROM  CYRUS  W.  FIELD. 


Telegraph  Office  of  Associated  Press,  } 
Boston,  August  5.  ) 

We  have  a  dispatch  from  Trinity  Bay,  announcing  the  ar- 


CYRUS  w.  FIELD'S   LETTER.  167 

rival  of  the  Niagara  at  that  place,  and  a  dispatch  confirming 
the  successful  laying  of  the  cable,  and  that  messages  are  now 
being  received.  , 

TRINITY  BAY,  August  5. 

To  the  Associated  Press : 

The  Atlantic  Telegraph  fleet  sailed  from  Queenstown  on 
Saturday,  July  17th,  met  at  mid-ocean  on  Wednesday  the 
28th,  made  the  splice  at  1  P.  M.  on  Thursday,  the  29th,  and 
then  separated,  the  Agamemnon  and  the  Valorous  bound  to 
Valentia,  Ireland,  and  the  Niagara  and  Gorgon  for  this  place, 
where  they  arrived  yesterday,  and  this  morning  the  end  of  the 
cable  will  be  landed.  It  is  sixteen  hundred  and  ninety-eight 
nautical,  or  nineteen  hundred  and  fifty  statute  miles,  from  the 
Telegraph  House  at  the  head  of  Valentia  Harbor  to  the  Tel- 
egraph House,  Bay  of  Bulls,  Trinity  Bay ;  and  for  more  than 
two-thirds  of  this  distance  the  water  is  over  two  miles  in 
depth.  The  cable  has  been  paid  out  from  the  Agamemnon 
at  about  the  same  speed  as  from  the  Niagara.  The  electrical 
signals  sent  and  received  through  the  whole  cable  are  perfect. 
The  machinery  for  paying  out  the  cable  worked  in  the  most 
satisfactory  manner,  and  was  not  stopped  for  a  single  moment 
from  the  time  the  splice  was  made  until  we  arrived  here. 

Captain  Hudson,  Messrs.  Everett  and  Woodhouse,  the 
engineers,  the  electricians  and  officers  of  the  ships,  and,  in 
fact,  every  man  on  board  the  telegraph  fleet,  has  exerted  him- 
self to  the  utmost  to  make  the  expedition  successful ;  and  by 
the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence  it  has  been  successful. 

After  the  end  of  the  cable  is  landed  and  connected  with  the 
land  line  of  Telegraph,  and  the  Niagara  has  discharged  some 
cargo  belonging  to  the  Telegraph  Company,  she  will  go  to 
St.  John's  for  coals,  and  then  proceed  at  once  to  New  York. 

CYRUS  W.  FIELD. 

Again,  and  yet  again,  now,  the  hearty  cheers  re- 
sounded, long  and  loud  ;  the  eyes  of  large  numbers 


168  THANKSGIVING    AND    PRAISE. 

were  filled  with  tears  of  joy.  Several  persons  sprang 
simultaneously  upon  the  stage  to  speak.  Dr.  Hawes 
said  he  'must  be  allowed  a  word,  for  he  was  too  full  to 
keep  silent.  Rev.  Rufus  W.  Clark,  of  Brooklyn,  the 
home  of  Captain  Hudson,  proposed  that  we  solemnly 
dedicate  the  Cable  to  the  work  of  evangelizing  the 
world.  Dr.  William  Adams  repeated  a  remark  made 
by  him  the  previous  evening,  after  the  address  of  Dr. 
Budington,  that  he  had  from  the  first  been  in  the  con- 
fidence of  Mr.  Field,  whose  parting  request,  as  well  as 
Captain  Hudson's,  was  that  he  would  pray  for  the  suc- 
cess of  the  undertaking,  as  a  great  religious  auxiliary; 
so  that  it  might  reasonably  be  claimed  that  prayer  had 
achieved  the  work. 

Amid  these  hurried  utterances  on  every  hand,  the 
call  was  repeatedly  heard  from  different  parts  of  the 
assembly,  for  united  praise  and  prayer  ;  and  in  the  chaos 
of  glad  and  grateful  emotions,  at  the  request  of  the 
chair,  the  vast  assembly  —  under  the  lead  of  Dr.  S.  L. 
Pomroy  —  sang  together  the  Doxology  : 

"  Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings  flow,"  etc. 

and  also  the  verse : 

"  Jesus  shall  reign  where  e'er  the  sun,"  etc. 

Dr.  Hawes  then  offered  a  brief  and  fervent  prayer ; 
but  it  was  long  before  —  even  with  these  subduing 
devotions  —  the  excitement  could  be  so  far  calmed  as 
to  admit  of  resuming  the  prearranged  programme  ;  and 
so  unique  was  the  whole  scene  thus  suddenly  enacted 
—  so  impressive  and  touching,  as  well  as  cheering  — 
that,  while  it  gave  an  unexpected  interest  to  the  occa- 
sion never  to  be  forgotten,  both  speakers  and  hearers 


DR.    BRA  MAN'S    ADDRESS.  169 


afterwards  were  less  inclined  to  prolong  the  session. 
was  even  proposed  by  some  to  close  abruptly  at  just 
this  point,  as  the  one  of  highest  interest.  But  other 
venerated  names  yet  remained  to  be  commemorated, 
and  must  not  be  passed  by,  even  under  the  influence  of 
such  an  event,  without,  at  least,  a  brief  notice. 

As  it  had  been  doubtful  whether  Dr.  Wayland  could 
be  present,  to  give  the  notice  of  Professor  Stuart,  Dr". 
Milton  P.  Braman,  of  Danvers,had  been  requested  also 
to  be  in  readiness  for  a  call  to  the  service,  and  we  are 
gratified  to  insert  here  the  characteristic  sketch,  which 
he  had  written,  but  was  not  called  upon  to  deliver. 

I  have  been  requested  to  furnish,  upon  this  occasion,  some 
recollections  of  the  late  Professor  Stuart  ;  a  desire  to  which 
I  have  yielded,  not  insensible  to  the  difficulty  of  offering 
any  remarks  correspondent  with  the  public  impressions 
of  his  distinguished  character.  The  invaluable  services 
which  this  eminent  teacher,  and  author,  rendered  to  that 
department  of  instruction,  over  which  he  presided  in  the 
Theological  Seminary,  whose  fiftieth  anniversary  we  now 
celebrate  ;  the  flood  of  light  which  his  oral  teachings,  and 
numerous  publications,  have  thrown  upon  the  sacred  writ- 
ings, and  which  have  given  such  an  impulse  to  the  cause  of 
biblical  literature  in  this  country,  are  themes  upon  which  all 
his  pupils  will  ever  dwell  with  grateful  remembrance,  while 
there  may  be  great  diversity  in  the  powers  which  they  possess 
to  give  their  feelings  adequate  expression. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  enjoy,  with  many  others,  the  instruc- 
tions of  Professor  Stuart,  when  he  was  in  the  full  height  and 
vigor  of  his  powers  ;  when  he  combined  the  enthusiasm  of 
youth,  which  indeed  he  never  lost,  with  the  ripeness  of  a  mind 
developed  into  complete  maturity,  and  enriched  with  the  fruit 
of  years  of  the  most  unwearied  and  successful  investigation. 

22 


170  DR.  BRAMAN'S   ADDRESS. 

The  learning  and  ability  with  which  he  expounded  the  in- 
spired record  may  be  seen  from  his  numerous  publications, 
by  those  who  never  received  instruction  from  his  lips,,  or  saw 
his  person  ;  but  the  interest  which  he  threw  over  the  lecture- 
room,  the  power  with  which  he  arrested  the  attention  an.d 
excited  the  ardor  of  his  pupils,  can  be  fully  appreciated  by 
those  only,  who  were  members  of  the  classes  which  he  suc- 
cessively taught.  I  do  not,  however,  consider  myself  as 
restricted  to  remarks  suggested  by  the  relations  of  instructor 
and  pupil.  Any  observations  which  illustrate  the  peculiarities 
of  his  genius  and  efforts,  I  conceive  to  come  within  the  just 
scope  of  the  occasion. 

Among  the  characteristics  by  which  Professor  Stuart  was 
prominently  marked  was  his  originality.  When  he  became 
connected  with  the  Institution,  he  marked  out  a  course  of  his 
own  ;  his  plan  of  study  and  his  methods  of  investigating  the 
divine  oracles  were,  to  a  considerable  extent,  an  innovation 
upon  the  routine  which  had  been  pursued  in  this  country, 
particularly  in  the  religious  denomination  with  which  he  was 
connected.  He  comprehended  at  once  the  many  deficiencies 
of  the  prevailing  methods  of  biblical  interpretation. 

The  ideal  which  he  formed  of  the  true  mode  of  studying 
the  word  of  God  was  a  high  and  well  defined  one,  and  he  set 
himself  about  the  task  of  realizing  it,  to  the  utmost  extent 
which  his  rare  ability,  and  the  means  within  his  reach,  per- 
mitted. 

He  saw  that  the  German  Theologians  surpassed  all  others 
in  the  patience  and  minuteness  with  which  they  investigated 
the  languages  in  which  the  divine  word  is  written  ;  and  to  the 
perusal  of  their  writings  he  applied  himself  with  the  most 
diligent  attention;  he  caught  their  spirit;  he  adopted  their 
methods  of  severe  and  wide  research ;  and  in  due  time  the  rich 
fruit  of  his  learned  inquiries  appeared.  The  letters  which 
Professor  Stuart  addressed  to  the  late  Dr.  Channing,with  ref- 
erence to  his  celebrated  sermon  preached  in  Baltimore,  first 
gave  him  general  reputation.  The  vast  reading  which  they 


DR.  BRAMAN'S  ADDRESS.  171 

displayed  of  authors,  almost  unknown  on  this  side  the  water; 
the  keen,  critical  acumen  which  they  evinced  ;  the  power  and 
completeness  with  which  they  met  the  objections  to  his  con- 
struction of  the  controverted  scripture  passages,  upon  which 
he  rested  the  proof  of  the  doctrine  which  he  advocated,  were 
evidence  enough  how  wisely  and  successfully  his  studies  had 
been  conducted. 

The  letters  produced  an  instantaneous  and  powerful  sensa- 
tion. They  were  given  to  the  public  when  the  attention  of 
all  interested*,  in  any  degree,  in  the  subject  of  religion  was 
awake  to  the  controversy  which  gave  occasion  to  their  pro- 
duction, and  placed  him,  at  once,  at  the  head  of  all  biblical 
expositors  in  the  country.  The  friends  of  the  doctrine  which 
the  letters  support,  were  filled  with  surprise  and  joy,  to  see 
the  tenet  which  was  so  dear  to  their  hearts,  so  triumphantly 
defended  against  the  subtle  objections  of  those  who  claimed 
preeminence  in  the  science  of  sacred  exegesis. 

The  subject  on  which  the  letters  were  written,  had  recently 
called  forth  as  able  a  champion,  in  Scotland,  as  had  ever  un- 
dertaken its  discussion — Dr.  Wardlaw,  of  Glasgow — a  man 
of  remarkable  critical  sagacity,  and  among  the  most  distin- 
guished of  all  theological  controversialists.  But  whoever 
will  institute  a  comparison  between  the  letters  of  Professor 
Stuart  to  Dr.  Channing,  and  the  discourses  of  Dr.  Wardlaw 
on  the  Socinian  controversy,  together  with  his  reply  to  Mr. 
Yates,  while  he  will  be  profoundly  impressed  with  the  mas- 
terly powers  of  the  learned  Scotch  divine,  will  be  constrained 
to  acknowledge  the  superiority  of  Professor  Stuart,  on  the 
whole,  in  the  accuracy  and  reliability  of  the  proof  on  which  he 
founded  his  belief  of  the  divine  character  of  the  Son  of  God. 

The  modifications  of  his  argument,  which  the  Professor 
felt  himself  obliged  to  make,  when  it  had  passed  through  the 
severe  ordeal  of  opposing  criticism,  were  of  the  slightest 
character ;  while  Dr.  Wardlaw  was  required  to  make  conces- 
sions which  subtracted  considerably  from  the  proofs  on  which 
he  had  placed  important  reliance. 


172  DR.  BRAMAN'S  ADDRESS]. 

The  effect  of  Professor  Stuart's  German  studies,  and  his 
severe  application  of  the  laws  of  interpretation,  appear  to  as 
much  advantage  in  the  omission  of  what  had  been  considered 
as  well  established  arguments,  as  in  the  new  force  which  he 
gave  to  those  which  had  been  previously  urged. 

There  is  not  to  be  found,  in  the  same  number  of  pages,  a 
scriptural  argument  for  the  divinity  of  Christ  so  correct,  com- 
plete, and  satisfactory  as  is  contained  in  these  celebrated  let- 
ters to  Dr.  Channing. 

Considerable  apprehensions  were  felt  by  some  of  the  friends 
of  Professor  Stuart,  before  the  publication  of  these  letters,  in 
respect  to  the  zeal  with  which  it  was  known  that  he  had 
plunged  into  the  study  of  German  authors.  The  irreverence 
which  some  of  these  theologians  displayed  towards  the  scrip- 
ture, the  wild  and  infidel  speculations  in  which  they  indulged, 
it  was  feared  would  have  an  unfavorable  influence  on  the  in- 
quisitive and  adventurous  mind  of  the  Professor.  But  the 
alarm  was  soon  to  be  dissipated. 

I  heard  it  related  by  a  gentleman,  soon  after  the  issue  of 
the  publication,  that  a  distinguished  theologian,  to  whom  the 
author  read  the  manuscript,  who  had  shared  in  the  general 
anxiety,  burst  into  tears,  and  exclaimed :  "  You  have  filled  a 
void  in  my  mind  which  has  existed  for  ten  years." 

The  subsequent  and  more  elaborate  works  of  Professor 
Stuart,  have  fully  met  the  expectations  which  were  created 
by  the  profound  originality  of  the  first  effort. 

The  second  characteristic  of  Professor  Stuart  which  I  shall 
notice,  was  the  enthusiasm  of  his  temperament. 

He  never  felt  otherwise  than  deeply  on  any  theme  which 
occupied  his  thoughts.  He  entered  with  his  whole  soul  into 
whatever  pursuit  he  conceived  it  his  duty  to  engage,  and  he 
needed  all  the  ardor  of  his  feelings  to  enable  him  to  under- 
take and  carry  forward  such  a  plan  of  study  as  he  lived  to 
accomplish.  For  whilst  there  is  so  much  to  interest  a  person 
of  his  piety  and  thirst  for  knowledge,  in  the  investigation  of 
the  divine  oracles,  there  is  much  in^  the  critical  study  of  Ian- 


173 


guage  that  is  exceedingly  dry,  tedious,  and  trying  to  the 
patience  of  the  generality  of  men,  even  in  the  most  favorable 
circumstances. 

But  when  Mr.  Stuart  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  Pro- 
fessorship, the  difficulties  through  which  he  had  to  clear  his 
way  in  prosecution  of  the  purpose  which  he  cherished,  were 
a  thousand  fold  greater  than  exist  in  this  country  at  this 
period.  The  facilities  for  the  pursuit  of  sacred  exegetical 
studies,  so  abundant  now,  and  to  the  multiplication  of  which 
himself  so  much  contributed,  did  not  then  exist.  Grammars 
of  the  Hebrew  language,  written  in  the  English  language, 
were  then  so  imperfect,  that  he  soon  found  it  necessary  to 
prepare  a  grammar  for  his  classes,  which  he  put  into  their 
hands  in  manuscript  sheets  as  he  proceeded  in  his  work. 

In  the  comparatively  unbeaten  and  solitary  path  in  which 
he  travelled,  uncheered  by  the  sympathy  and  cooperation 
which  are  now  enjoyed  by  those  pursuing  the  same  route,  he 
was  borne  on  by  an  ardor  which  seemed  to  be  only  stimulated 
to  new  intensity  by  the  impediments  which  it  had  to  over- 
come. 

It  was  the  irrepressible  enthusiasm  of  his  feelings  which 
prevented  the  unfavorable  operation  of  his  critical  studies 
upon  his  pulpit  performances.  The  investigation  of  particles, 
linguistic  inflections,  and  grammatical  niceties,  to  which  the 
duties  of  his  station  compelled  him,  has  a  powerful  tendency 
to  beget  a  dry,  stiff  mode  of  sermonizing.  It  exhausts  all  the 
life  of  some  men,  and  makes  their  discourses  as  withered  and 
dusty  as  an  Egyptian  Mummy. 

Professor  Stuart  declared  that  his  exegetical  pursuits  tended 
to  unfit  him  for  preparation  for  the  pulpit.  The  habits  of 
mind  which  were  cultivated  in  composing  sermons,  and  in  the 
investigation  of  language,  interfered  with  each  other ;  and  he 
preferred  when  he  performed  his  part  of  the  preaching  in  the 
chapel,  to  perform  it  at  one  period,  in  a  continuous  succession 
of  Sabbaths,  rather  than  by  occasional  efforts,  that  he  might 
preserve,  uninterrupted,  that  glow  of  feeling  which  he  wished 


174  DR.  BRAMAN'S  ADDRESS. 

to  infuse  into  his  public  ministrations.  The  delight  with 
which  the  students  of  the  Seminary  always  heard  him  on  the 
Sabbath,  the  interest  which  he  inspired  in  every  assembly 
which  he  addressed,  by  his  fervent  and  powerful  appeals,  show 
that  nature  had  given  him  a  genius  for  the  highest  efforts  of 
the  pulpit,  which  no  influence  of  unfavorable  studies  could 
impede  or  obscure. 

It  will  be  easily  seen,  and  it  will  be  remembered  by  all  his 
pupils,  that  his  ardent  emotions  gave  great  freshness  and  at- 
traction to  the  performances  of  the  lecture-room.  The  dull- 
est mind  was  kept  awake  —  the  most  sluggish  temperament 
roused  into  action  —  the  dryest  exegesis  was  enlivened  by  his 
fervid  animation,  and  the  flashes  of  humor  which  were  emit- 
ted at  intervals  during  the  allotted  hour. 

There  is  nothing,  perhaps,  in  which  Professor  Stuart  was 
more  in  advance  of  the  times  in  this  country,  when  he  com- 
menced his  career  as  teacher,  than  the  vivacity  which  he 
threw  into  his  instructions.  It  is  enough  to  say  of  him  that 
he  would  more  than  have  met  the  demand  of  the  present 
period,  when  the  spirit  of  the  age  goes  into  the  halls  of  in- 
struction, and  sober  theological  students,  or  those  who  should 
be  sober,  demand  popular  and  spicy  harangues  from  the  grave 
professorial  chair.  I  must  be  allowed  to  say,  however,  that 
those  who  have  the  ministry  in  view,  and  have  reached  the 
age  at  which  those  have  arrived,  who  have  entered  upon  the 
course  preparatory  to  the  profession,  should  be  satisfied  with 
solid  instruction,  even  though  it  should  be  given  in  that  calm 
unimpassioned  manner  which  would  be  censured  as  dull  in 
the  pulpit  and  on  the  platform.  They  ought  not  to  depend, 
so  much  as  some  of  them  do,  on  the  devices  and  address  of 
the  teacher  to  stimulate  an  attention,  which  the  studies  that 
they  are  pursuing,  and  the  object  which  they  are  seeking 
should  be  sufficient  to  keep  awake  in  persons  at  their  stage  of 
literary  advancement.  But  since  the  young  men  of  America 
are  not  able  to  outgrow  their  childish  propensities  as  they  ad- 
vance into  riper  life,  we  should  be  thankful  to  divine  provi- 


DR.  BRAMAN'S   ADDRESS.  175 

dence  for  raising  up  instructors  who  are  so  well  qualified  as 
was  Professor  Stuart,  for  holding  the  vagrant  attention  of  in- 
fant theological  classes  composed  of  young  men  between  the 
tender  ages  of  twenty  and  thirty  years. 

Professor  Stuart  was  a  man  of  very  positive  and  decided 
opinions.  What  he  believed,  he  believed  with  all  his  might, 
and  what  he  doubted,  he  doubted  with  all  his  soul,  and 
strength,  and  mind.  He  was  accustomed  to  amuse  himself 
with  the  very  opposite  peculiarity  of  a  distinguished  man,  a 
preacher  and  professor,  who,  he  said,  rather  thought  that  two 
and  two  made  four,  although  he  would  not  be  too  confident. 
I  suspect  that  Mr.  Stuart  never  felt  any  uncertainty  at  all 
about  this  mathematical  truth.  He  scarcely  knew  what  it 
was  to  rather  doubt  or  rather  believe  any  proposition  which 
he  made  the  subject  of  consideration.  He  was  firmly  con- 
vinced of  its  truth,  or  unhesitatingly  persuaded  of  its  falsity, 
or  absolutely  sure  that  he  could  not  come  to  any  determinate 
opinion  in  the  matter.  The  words  "unquestionably,  un- 
doubtedly," uttered  with  that  inimitable  air  of  confidence  with 
which  he  propounded  his  opinions,  still  linger  in  the  hearing 
of  his  oldest  living  pupils.  Such  positiveness  is  a  most  in- 
valuable trait  of  a  theological  teacher,  when  accompanied 
with  a  profound,  reverent  exploration  of  the  word  of  God. 
What  is  there  which  the  young  aspirant  for  the  pulpit  needs 
to  believe  more  heartily,  and  to  be  prepared  to  announce 
more  unequivocally,  than  the  vital  truths  of  Christianity  ?  A 
method  of  instruction,  therefore,  which  is  calculated  to  give 
to  their  opinions  and  preaching  a  decided  and  bold  character, 
when  directed  by  proper  caution,  is  that  most  suited  to  the 
training  of  those  who  are  to  proclaim  doctrines  offensive  to 
worldly  and  unbelieving  minds. 

There  are  some  teachers  who  shrink  from  decisive  opinions. 
In  their  explanations  of  a  passage  of  scripture  which  admits 
of  the  possibility  of  a  various  construction,  they  so  evenly 
adjust  the  amount  of  argument  for  its  different  meanings 
that  the  theological  balances  are  kept  in  a  perpetual  equipoise. 


176  DR.  BRAMAN'S  ADDRESS. 

Their  belief  is  so  mixed  with  doubt,  and  their  doubt  so  qual- 
ified with  belief,  that  it  is  hard  to  say  which  preponderates  — 
whether  they  believe,  or  doubt,  it  amounts  to  pretty  much  the 
same  thing.  The  times  need,  they  always  need,  advocates  of 
Christianity  who  speak  with  the  confidence  which  is  derived 
from  the  most  unwavering  conviction  of  the  truth  which  they 
utter. 

Professor  Stuart  united  in  an  eminent  degree  two  qualities 
which  the  history  of  theology  proves  to  be  very  difficult  to 
combine  —  unlimited  latitude  of  inquiry,  in  conjunction  with 
the  most  childlike  and  humble  deference  to  the  authority  of 
Scripture.  His  whole  course  and  mode  of  study  is  a  most 
convincing  refutation  of  the  charge  that  orthodox  opinions 
are  not  consistent  with  freedom  of  research.  In  his  letters  to 
Dr.  Channing  he  contended  for  the  widest  range  of  examina- 
tion. He  advocated,  in  eloquent  words,  what  he  had  reduced 
to  familiar  practice,  the  diligent  study  of  the  ablest  opposers 
of  the  sentiments  of  his  own  denomination.  He  declared 
that  in  his  exegetical  inquiries,  three-fourths  of  his  reading 
had  been  employed  on  those  authors  who  did  not  coincide 
with  his  own  views,  and  fearlessly  asked  Dr.  Channing 
whether  he  could  make  a  similar  statement  with  respect  to 
his  own  reading.  He  might  have  put  the  same  question  with 
equal  significance  to  many  others,  who,  like  Dr.  Channing, 
claim  for  themselves  almost  a  monopoly  of  liberal  inves- 
tigation and  allow  so  little  credit  to  others  for  the  same 
virtue. 

When  I  was  a  member  of  this  Institution,  happening  to 
allude,  in  conversation  with  a  respectable  clergyman,  to  an 
opinion  advanced  by  some  anti -orthodox  author,  opening  his 
eyes  wide  in  astonishment,  he  asked :  "  Do  they  allow  you  to 
read  such  books  in  Andover  ?  "  And  yet,  I  venture  to  say, 
that  Professor  Stuart  had  read  many-fold  more  books  present- 
ing views  directly  hostile  to  his  own  sentiments,  than  that 
gentleman  had  read  on  all  subjects  whatever,  or  would  have 
read,  if  when  he  left  this  world  it  could  have  been  recorded 


DR.  BRAMAN'S  ADDRESS.  177 

of  him,  as  it  was  of  Methuselah,  "  And  all  his  days  were  nine_ 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  years,  and  he  died." 

As  it  is  not  uncommon  to  hear  orthodox  theological  sem- 
inaries denounced,  as  not  allowing  of  free  inquiry,  I  take  this 
opportunity  to  say  that  no  charge  could  be  more  false  of  this 
Seminary,  when  I  was  a  member ;  and  I  believe  such  a  charge 
to  be  equally  false  now. 

To  say  nothing  of  the  respected  colleagues  of  Professor 
Stuart,  who  sympathized  with  his  large  views,  I  shall  be  sup- 
ported by  the  testimony  of  all  his  pupils  in  asserting,  that,  by 
example  and  precept,  he  encouraged  free  investigation  to  the 
utmost  extent  to  which  the  meaning  of  the  term  can  be  right- 
fully pressed. 

Having  by  his  usual  thorough  examination  fully  convinced 
himself  of  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  I  firmly  believe 
that  he  applied  himself  to  its  study  with  a  most  sincere  de- 
termination to  ascertain  its  true  meaning,  and  abide  by  the 
result,  although  it  should  be  in  the  face  of  every  creed  formed 
since  the  days  of  the  apostles,  and  he  should  find  himself 
alone  in  his  belief  in  the  whole  Christian  church. 

"  If  the  sentiments  which  I  have  espoused,"  said  he  in  his 
letters  to  Dr.  Channing,  "  will  not  stand  the  test  of  investiga- 
tion, then  I  will  abandon  them."  In  conformity  with  this 
principle,  he  began,  prosecuted,  and  ended  his  researches.  He 
pressed  it  on  the  attention  of  his  pupils  —  he  has  left  it  as  a 
legacy  to  the  church  of  God,  and,  being  dead,  yet  proclaims 
it  to  every  man  who  reads  his  writings  and  knows  his  name. 

But  his  free  investigation  was  bounded  by  the  most  im- 
plicit assent  to  the  infallible  authority  of  the  Bible  —  and  he 
bowed  with  humble  acquiescence  to  every  doctrine  that  he 
thought  fairly  deducible  from  its  pages.  The  sentiment  that 
the  Bible  is  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice  went  deep  into 
his  soul,  and  was  carried  out  into  the  completest  exemplifica- 
tion. 

A  mind  so  bold,  and  yet  so  childlike,  so  free,  and  yet  so 
acquiescent  in  just  and  rational  authority,  is  one  of  the  rarest 

23 


178  DR.  BRAMAN'S   ADDRESS. 

combinations  of  humanity,  and  places  him  immeasurably 
above  some  reckless  persons,  whose  boasted,  shallow,  free  in- 
quiry is  a  freedom  to  believe  what  they  like,  and  reject  what 
they  dislike,  without  much  vigorous  mental  effort  or  respect 
to  argument;  and  whilst  they  seem  to  consider  it  the  chief 
end  of  man  to  denounce  dogmatism  and  bigotry,  present  no 
more  effectual  dissuasives  from  that  which  they  condemn, 
than  their  own  glaring  and  offensive  exemplification  of  these 
theological  vices. 

The  exegetical  writings  of  Mr.  Stuart  are  a  most  invaluable 
treasure.  They  commenced  a  new  era  in  theological  liter- 
ature in  this  country.  Would,  could  it  have  been  consistent 
with  the  divine  will,  that  his  life  had  been  long  enough  and 
strong  enough  to  write  as  he  has  written,  on  every  book  and 
doctrine  of  the  Bible.  His  works  combine,  in  a  high  degree, 
the  most  essential  elements  of  sacred  criticism.  He  united 
the  German  and  English  ingredient  in  his  mental  constitution. 
He  possessed  the  patient,  investigating  spirit  of  the  German, 
with  the  sobriety,  practicality,  and'  what  is  called  by  Mr. 
Locke,  "  the  large  round-about  common  sense,"  of  the  pious 
English  commentator. 

It  has  been  facetiously  remarked  that  when  a  Frenchman 
and  Englishman  coincide  in  opinion,  on  any  subject,  the 
opinion  must  be  right.  It  is  equally  true,  that,  when  a  Ger- 
man and  an  American,  or  rather  when  the  German  and  Amer- 
ican element  in  a  biblical  interpreter  agree  in  construction,  it 
is  a  presumption  that  the  construction  must  be  correct.  It 
requires  a  fusion  of  a  German  and  American  to  constitute  a 
perfect  scriptural  expositor. 

I  am  not  prepared  to  accept,  however,  all  the  conclusions 
which  Mr.  Stuart  adopted  —  although  I  think  it  probable  that 
some  of  his  opinions  which  are  now  not  received  with  favor, 
will  be  less  objected  to,  when  his  principles  of  interpretation 
are  better  appreciated. 

We  have  reason  to  be  thankful  for  such  a  gift  to  the  Amer- 
ican church  as  Professor  Stuart.  If  he  had  pursued  the  legal 


DR.   B  RAMAN'S   ADDRESS.  179 

profession,  as  he  originally  contemplated,  he  would  have  stood_. 
in  the  highest  rank  as  a  pleader  at  the  bar.     He  would  have 
been  one  of  the  ablest  expounders  of  law  that  adorn  the  an- 
nals of  jurisprudence. 

If  he  had  entered  into  political  life,  he  would  have  taken  his 
place  beside  the  most  eminent  Statesmen  whose  names  stand 
resplendent  in  our  country's  history.  But  his  ample  gifts  were 
laid  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  —  they  were  consecrated  to  the  in- 
vestigation of  the  divine  word,  and  a  defence  of  the  vital 
truths  of  Christianity  —  and  the  blessed  influence  of  his 
studies  will  be  felt  in  the  salvation  of  men  in  the  most  dis- 
tant part  of  the  world,  and  the  remotest  ages  of  time. 

While  we  are  on  this  occasion  refreshing  our  recollections 
of  the  eminent  gifts  and  services  of  Professor  Stuart,  it  is  in- 
teresting to  contemplate  the  high  pursuits  in  which  he  is  now 
exercising  his  invigorated  powers.  He  wrote  commentaries 
upon  two  of  the  Epistles  of  Paul.  The  Apostle  is  now  his 
instructor  in  the  spiritual  world,  as  he  was  through  those 
pages  which  were  the  themes  of  the  Professor's  eager  and 
profound  examination  upon  earth.  With  what  delight  does 
he  listen  to  the  sacred  writer's  own  commentary  upon  those 
most  elaborate  productions  of  his  heavenly  illumined  mind. 
John  unfolds  to  his  delighted  gaze  those  sublime  mysteries  of 
the  Apocalypse,  upon  which  he  exhausted  years  of  patient  toil. 
Daniel  pours  new  light  over  those  dreams  and  visions  of  the 
future,  which  he  explored  with  unwearied  research.  Isaiah 
sheds  heavenly  splendor  on  his  sublime  prophecies.  And  the 
Son  of  God  illumines  with  transcendent  light  those  wondrous 
words,  through  which  he  revealed  "  as  never  man  spake,"  his 
Father's  counsels  and  will  to  mankind. 

Next  in  importance  to  that  sanctifying  influence  of  divine 
truth,  in  which  the  least  gifted  disciple  of  Jesus  shares  with 
the  most  richly  endowed  of  his  followers,  is  the  illumination 
which  he  acquires  by  a  life  of  devoted  and  successful  study 
of  the  divine  word.  He  enters  on  his  heavenly  career  with 
those  attainments  which  others  must  make  after  its  com- 


180  DR.  BLAGDEN'S  ADDRESS. 

mencement,  and  starts  on  new  and  higher  discoveries  which 
his  enraptured  spirit  will  pursue  through  eternity. 

Dr.  George  W.  Blagden,  of  Boston,  had  consented  to 
speak  of  the  character  and  services  of  Dr.  Woods,  and 
on  being  now  called,  made  the  subjoined 


ADDRESS. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Brethren :  Many  years  ago  I  read  a 
suggestion  which  has  never  been  forgotten  since,  and  which 
seems  to  me  to  carry  with  it  much  of  truth,  and  to  be  appro- 
priate to  the  occasion,  and  particularly  to  the  theme,  on  which 
I  have  been  invited  to  speak  to  you.  It  was,  that  the  char- 
acter of  any  person,  —  and  particularly  that  of  a  public  man, 
—  and  especially  that  of  a  minister  of  the  Gospel, — might 
be  very  surely  indicated  by  the  nature  and  the  sources  of  the 
praise  which  he  received. 

If  he  be  literary,  they  who  love  literature  will  honor  him  ; 
and  if  imaginative,  or  tasteful,  or  scientific,  or  learned  in  any 
particular  department  of  human  science, — they,  who  may  be 
respectively  most  interested  in  any  one  of  those  attainments 
or  characteristics,  will  correspondingly  appreciate  and  praise 
him.  And,  if  he  be  a  flippant,  conceited  smatterer,  more  de- 
sirous of  producing  an  effect,  than  of  eliciting  and  enforcing 
truth; — the  flippant,  and  the  thoughtless,  the  showy,  and  the 
inexperienced  will  exalt  him. 

It  follows  from  this,  that  it  is  also  an  indication  of  the 
character  of  any  one,  to  notice  in  what  particular  states  of 
mind  we  ourselves  are,  when  we  desire  and  love  to  think  of 
him  and  speak  of  him,  as  awakening  our  interest,  and  stim- 
ulating our  own  efforts  after  higher  excellence. 

If  we  apply  this  test  to  Dr.  Woods,  I  think  it  will  be  highly 
in  his  favor.  If  we  reflect  on  those  states  of  mind,  in  which 


DR.  BLAGDEN'S   ADDRESS.  181 

we  turn  to  him,  and  bring  him  in  imagination  before  us, 
and  think  of  him  with  reverence  and  affection,  I  think  they 
will  be  found  to  be  those,  in  which  we  may  humbly  hope 
that  we  are  most  fervent  in  the  exercise  of  love  to  Christ,  and 
most  ardent  and  zealous  in  our  desires  and  efforts  for  the 
coming  of  His  kingdom,  and  the  doing  of  His  will.  It  is 
when  we  think  most  of  the  importance  and  value  of  those 
laborers,  who  shall  be  sent  forth  into  the  fields  white  for  the 
harvest  to  thrust  in  their  sickles  and  reap ;  it  is  when  we 
think  of  the  well  nigh  unspeakable  importance  of  the  pure, 
and  high,  and  well  balanced  character  of  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel ;  it  is  when  we  appreciate  most  highly  the  interests 
and  influence  of  this  school  of  the  prophets,  that  the  form 
and  features  of  our  late  honored  Professor  and  teacher  seem 
to  rise  before  us,  —  like  those  of  old  Samuel,  before  Saul,  in 
the  celebrated  picture  of  Allston,  —  an  object  of  complacency 
to  all  who  are  good,  and  of  displeasure  and  fear  only  to  the 
wicked,  who  flee  before  it. 

Let  me  affectionately  and  respectfully  ask  you  to  contem- 
plate his  character: 

As  a  Professor  of  Theology ; 

As  a  Religious  Controversialist; 

And,  in  his  social  and  domestic  relations,  as  a  Christian 
man. 

I.  The  great  characteristic  of  his  theology  may  be  said  to 
be,  that  it  emphatically  exalted  God,  and  humbled  man. 

By  humbling  man,  I  do  not  mean  that  he  divested  him  of 
his  prerogatives  as  a  free,  accountable  agent  under  the  divine 
government.  He  held  to  the  distinction  between  natural 
and  moral  ability  and  inability,  clearly,  fully,  and  habitually. 
And  he  therefore  ever  pressed  the  obligation  of  man  to  obey 
perfectly  all  the  commands  of  God,  both  under  the  law  and 
gospel,  unreservedly,  affectionately,  and  faithfully.  He  presses 
this,  with  much  force,  in  his  lectures  to  young  preachers. 

Nor,  did  he  hold  to  any  views  of  regeneration,  and  of  the 
sovereignty  of  God,  which  did  not  include  the  full  and  even 


182  DR.  BLAG  DEN'S  ADDRESS. 

accountable  activity  of  man,  in  the  change  of  character 
which  makes  him  a  Christian. 

But  it  was,  at  the  same  time,  a  marked  and  carefully  pre- 
served characteristic  of  his  theology,  that  when  we  approach 
that  very  difficult,  and  well  nigh  inexplicable  point,  that  locus 
vexatissimus  in  theology,  at  which  the  divine  and  human 
agency  meet  and  cooperate, —  he  exalted  the  divine  agency  su- 
premely, clearly,  and  most  carefully.  He  never  hesitated  for  a 
moment,  from  the  fullest  declaration  of  the  truth,  that  it  must 
precede  that  of  man ;  that  "  the  preparations  of  the  heart  in 
man,  and  the  answer  of  the  tongue,  is  from  the  Lord ; "  that 
we  love  Him,  because  He  first  loved  us  ;  —  and  that  we  have 
not  chosen  Christ,  but  he  has  chosen  us. 

And  he  held,  also,  with  great  clearness  and  force,  that  God, 
in  thus  preceding  the  agency  of  man,  ever  acts  in  a  sovereign 
manner.  That  is,  not  without  the  best  and  most  wise  and 
just  reasons ;  but,  that  these  reasons  are,  for  the  most  part, 
unknown  to  us  ;  and  that  they  especially  exclude  the  idea  of 
human  merit.  "  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto 
thy  name  give  glory,  for  thy  mercy,  and  for  thy  truth's 
sake,"  was  a  sentiment  to  which  he  ever  responded  with  the 
clearest  conclusions  of  his  reason,  and  the  deepest  and  warm- 
est feelings  of  his  heart.  He,  therefore,  ever  delighted  to 
bow  his  own  reason,  and  to  persuade  others  to  bow  their 
reason,  before  the  august  sovereignty  of  God,  —  saying  with 
the  apostle  Paul :  "  O,  the  depth  of  the  riches,  both  of  the 
wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God !  How  unsearchable  are  His 
judgments,  and  His  ways  past  finding  out." 

2.  With  this  marked  and  prominent  characteristic  of  his 
theological  instruction,  he  cherished  a  deep  conviction  of 
responsibility  for  the  moral  and  mental  habits  he  assisted  in 
forming  and  cherishing  in  his  pupils.  This  feeling  of  respon- 
sibility appears,  incidentally,  like  a  golden  thread  in  the  text- 
ure of  a  garment,  in  his  writings.  It  shows  itself,  particularly 
in  the  dedication  of  his  works  to  his  pupils,  and  also  in  the 
first  part  of  his  letters  addressed  to  a  distinguished  theological 
Professor. 


DR.  BLAGDEN'S   ADDRESS.  183 

It  has  sometimes  occurred  to  me  that  it  may  have  led  to  a 
certain  degree  of  apparent,  but  not  real  tameness  in  the  lec- 
ture room.  I  say  apparent,  but  not  real,  because  Dr.  Woods 
always  cherished  a  spirit  of  free  inquiry,  in  the  best  sense  of 
those  words,  among  his  pupils.  He  was  ever  ready  to  meet 
in  the  way  of  calm,  and  kind  conversation  and  discussion, 
the  objections  and  diffiulties  which  might  be  started  by  active 
and  inquisitive  minds.  I  think  no  one  of  them  will  say  that 
he  ever  discouraged  the  freest  and  fullest  discussion,  —  com- 
menced and  conducted  in  a  proper  spirit,  —  a  spirit  adapted 
to  promote  the  discovery  and  enforcement  of  truth. 

But,  he  did  discourage  every  approach  towards  a  spirit  of 
flippant  or  conceited  self-complacency,  even  though  it  as- 
sumed the  form  of  a  diligent  investigation  of  truth.  He 
taught  his  pupils,  by  precept  and  example,  a  spirit  of  humility 
and  of  modesty.  And  he  discouraged  a  tendency  to  intel- 
lectual pride,  which  might  seem  to  have  any  elements  of  that 
wisdom  of  the  world  which  knows  not  God.  The  duty  of 
bowing  human  reason  to  the  clear  deductions  of  the  word  of 
God  was  one  which  he  often  inculcated,  both  by  precept  and 
example.  And,  though  this  careful  cultivation  of  a  spirit  of 
reverence  and  modesty  in  them  may  have  made  them  less 
self-confident  and  showy  in  their  theological  attainments  at 
first,  they  wore  well,  and  their  characters,  intellectual  and 
moral,  improved  with  the  passage  of  time.  His  pupils  have 
made  good  pastors  and  ministers.  I  repeat  it  —  they  have 
worn  well. 

3.  It  would  be  unfaithful,  in  presenting  the  main  points  of 
his  character,  as  a  professor  of  theology,  not  to  notice  partic- 
ularly his  deep,  and  marked  reverence  for  the  holy  Scriptures, 
as  the  word  of  God. 

And  it  is  the  more  important,  my  brethren  and  friends,  for 
us  to  notice  this  ;  because,  if  I  am  not  greatly  mistaken,  there 
is,  to  say  the  least,  a  dangerous  tendency  to  lower  a  reverence 
for  the  plain  declarations  of  the  word  of  God,  in  some  quar- 
ters, where  we  should  have  least  expected  it. 


184  DR.  BLAGDEN'S   ADDRESS. 

There  are  those  among  us, — even  one  who  has  been  some- 
what distinguished  as  a  commentator  on  the  Bible, — who  say, 
in  reference  to  certain  social  and  domestic  theories  of  their 
own,  that  if  the  Bible  taught  any  opposite  theory,  than  that 
which  they  embrace,  they  would  utterly  reject  it  as  false. 

There  was  nothing  of  this  kind  of  speech  and  action  res- 
pecting the  Bible,  either  in  the  precepts  or  practice  of  Dr. 
Woods.  He  was,  I  think  it  may  be  safely  said,  remarkable 
for  the  reverence  he  paid  to  the  holy  Scriptures.  He  believed 
in,  and  ably  defended  their  full,  or  plenary  inspiration.  And 
he  was  accustomed  frequently  to  say  to  his  pupils,  —  he  has 
also  repeatedly  said,  in  his  published  works,  most  affection- 
ately and  solemnly  dedicated  to  them,  —  that  we  should  come 
to  the  teaching,  of  revelation,  as  Bacon  and  Newton  came 
to  those  of  nature,  humbly  and  teachably  as  a  little  child, 
only  anxious  to  ascertain  the  facts  it  makes  known  ;  and  then 
clearly,  and  firmly,  and  forever,  even  unto  death,  holding  to 
the  great  truths  that  shoot  forth  from  them,  as  laws,  beau- 
tifully as  the  crystal  shoots  forth  from  the  apparently  confused 
workings  of  matter. 

In  doing  this,  he  neither  decried  nor  disparaged  the  book  of 
nature  or  the  book  of  providence,  or  the  volume,  if  it  may  be 
called  so,  of  the  human  mind.  He  did  not  decry  or  dispar- 
age human  reason.  But  he  did  keep  them  all  subordinate  to 
the  book  of  God,  which  we  call  the  Bible ;  and,  while  he 
freely  and  gratefully  used  the  others  to  illustrate,  and  confirm, 
and  enforce  its  blessed  truths,  he  felt  and  spoke  of  them,  in 
contrast  with  it,  —  as  Paul  spoke  to  the  Corinthians  of  the 
law  contrasted  with  the  gospel,  —  as  that  which,  though  it 
"  was  made  glorious,  had  no  glory  in  this  respect,  by  reason 
of  the  glory  that  excelleth." 

Would  that  all  and  each  of  his  pupils,  —  would  that  all 
and  each  of  the  ministers  of  the  gospel, — would  that  all  and 
each  one  of  us,  might,  in  this  respect,  most  faithfully  follow 
his  example. 

II.    In  speaking,  secondly,  on  Dr.  Woods's  character  as  a 


DR.  BLAGDEN'S  ADDRESS.  185 

controversialist  in  theology,  it  is  not  desirable,  for  want  of 
time,  and  from  other  obvious  considerations,  to  say  much. 

One  prominent  fact  respecting  it  is,  that  he  entered  upon 
controversy  with  great  reluctance.  He  did  not  seek  it  —  he 
desired  to  follow  the  things  which  make  for  peace.  In  the 
beginning  of  that  which  he  had  with  the  Unitarians,  and  of 
that  also,  which  he  held  with  that  distinguished  professor  in 
a  sister  school  of  theology,  whose  recent  death  we  all  deplore, 
and  whose  memory  we  all,  I  am  sure,  reverently  and  affec- 
tionately cherish  ; l  in  the  commencement  of  both  of  these  he 
said, — what  I  have  no  doubt  was  true,  —  that  he  entered  on 
each,  only  after  much  deliberation,  and  only  at  the  repeated 
solicitations  of  those,  whose  judgment  he  was  accustomed 
to  regard,  urging  him  to  what  they  felt  to  be  his  duty.  But, 
after  he  had  begun  it,  and  become,  as  we  may  say,  some- 
what warmed  in  the  mental  and  spiritual  conflict,  I  think  you 
will  all  agree  with  me  in  the  opinion,  whatever  may  be  your 
respective  judgments  in  regard  to  his  success  or  failure,  in 
pressing  his  particular  points,  that  he  not  only  contended 
earnestly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  but  that  he 
was  also  a  most  able  "defender  of  the  faith." 

1.  There  is  great  clearness  and  precision  in  his  style  of 
writing;   so  that  he  adhered  strictly  to  the  rule  of  rhetor- 
icians, which,  in  his  letters  to  the  Professor  of  theology,  he 
promised  to  obey ;  "  so  to  express  himself,  that  he  might  not 
only  be  understood,  but  could  not  be  misunderstood."  2 

2.  He  was  careful  in  defining  the  meaning  of  words. 

3.  He  was  fair  and  candid  in  interpreting  the  statements 
of  an  opponent,  usually  quoting  the  language  in  which  the 
position  he  would  disprove  had  been  stated. 

4.  And  he  wielded,  at  times,  great  power;  pressing  him, 
whose  arguments  he  opposed,  with  a  kind  of  cool,  yet  kind 
irony,  which  awakens  a  degree  of  sympathy  for  him  in  our 


1  I)r.  N.  W.  Taylor,  of  Yale  College. 

2  Letters  to  Dr.  Taylor.    Letter  2,  p.  363.    Works,  vol.  4. 

24 


186  DR.  BLAGDEN'S  ADDRESS. 

hearts,  while  we  are  constrained  to  condemn  the  course  of  his 
positions.  This  is  strikingly  and  very  happily  exemplified  in 
his  examination  of  the  doctrine  of  perfection,  —  as  maintained 
by  an  advocate  for  the  fact  that  an  absolute  perfection  of 
character  is  not  only  attainable,  but  is  attained,  in  this  life. 

In  ceasing  to  speak  of  his  character  as  a  controversialist,  it 
is  well  worthy  of  notice,  that  in  this,  —  as  in  his  teachings  on 
theology,  —  it  is  a  marked  and  ever  pervading  fact,  that  he 
embraced  and  enforced  those  views  of  religious  truth,  which 
tend  most  to  exalt  the  perfections  of  God,  and  to  humble 
man.  He  may  have  been,  some  may  think,  too  fastidiously 
cautious  in  admitting  the  idea  that  there  can  be  any  limit  to 
the  absolute  power  of  God,  in  his  moral,  any  more  than  in 
his  natural  government.  Especially,  when  we  think  of  the 
fine  remark  of  Andrew  Fuller,  that  beings  "who  possess 
great  natural  ability  are  capable  of  being  the  subjects  of 
greater  moral  inability,  than  others  whose  capacities  are  less." ! 
But,  however  this  may  be,  I,  for  one,  feel  deeply  disposed 
to  say,  that,  considering  the  controversy  into  which  Dr. 
Woods  entered  on  this  subject,  as  being  a  part  of  the  philos- 
ophy of  religion,  and  not  necessarily  including  its  essential 
elements,  he  embraced  and  defended  the  safer  side,  —  the  side 
which  exalts  God,  and  humbles  man.  The  times,  I  think, 
need  this  kind  of  theology,  far  more  than  they- need  its  op- 
posite. 

III.  In  speaking  of  his  social  character,  I  shall  be  compre- 
hensive, and  consider  it, 

1.  In  the  broadest  sense,  as  comprehending  his  habits  of 
mind  and  course  of  action  towards  his  fellow-men  generally, 
as  fellow  subjects  with  himself  of  the  government  of  God, 
besides  the  more  contracted  circles  of  his  immediate  acquaint- 
ances and  friends. 

Here  I  can  safely  say  —  and  all  of  you  who  knew  him,  or 
have  only  heard  of  him,  will  fully  and  freely  bear  me  out  in 

1  Fuller's  works.     Vol.  1,  p.  233. 


DR.  BLAGDEN'S  ADDRESS.  187 

the  assertion  —  that  he  took  the  Christian  view  of  man.  lie 
made  the  field  the  world,  and  he  strove  in  his  sphere  of  duty 
to  make  it  better  and  happier,  because  he  had  lived  in  it. 

He  was  a  friend  and  supporter  of  foreign  and  domestic 
missions.  He  strove  to  advance  the  cause  of  temperance, 
both  by  precept  and  example.  As  an  illustration  of  this,  let 
me  say,  incidentally,  here,  that  in  a  familiar  conference,  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  advice  to  the  students  on  practical  subjects, 
—  held  by  the  professors  of  the  Seminary  on  each  Wednesday 
evening,  —  I  well  remember  the  Doctor's  telling  us,  that  when 
we  came  to  be  pastors,  our  people  would  be  likely  to  offer  us, 
as  a  matter  of  courtesy,  intoxicating  spirits  to  drink.  And, 
that  he  had  kndwn  ministers  to  form  habits  of  intemperance 
from  their  free  and  frequent  indulgence  on  such  occasions. 
He  solemnly  warned  us  against  this  danger  ;  and  also  against 
the  danger  of  similar  habits,  even  at  the  ordination  and  in- 
stallation of  ministers !  But,  to  proceed ;  he  strove  also  to 
promote  the  cause  of  ministerial  education,  and  the  coloniza- 
tion of  free  people  of  color,  from  our  country,  in  Africa. 

And  here,  Jet  me  say,  that  his  theological  doctrines  had  a 
most  important  practical  influence  on  the  principles  which 
guided  his  conduct  (or,  on  his  practice),  in  all  such  efforts. 
His  deep  and  thorough  conviction  of  the  exceeding  evil  of  all 
sin,  in  whatever  form  it  may  be  committed,  connected  with 
the  habit  of  exalting  God,  as  a  sovereign,  who,  "  from  seem- 
ing evil,"  is  "  ever  educing  good,"  made  him  at  once  faithful 
and  firm  and  persevering  in  striving  to  overcome  and  extir- 
pate the  power  and  the  curse  of  sin  in  himself  and  others; 
and  at  the  same  time  patient,  long-suffering,  kind,  and  wise, 
in  doing  it.  He  was  a  conservative  man  —  progressively 
conservative,  and  conservatively  progressive.  He  had  no 
sympathy  with  that  Pharisaic  philanthropy  by  which  we  are 
in  so  much  danger,  and  which,  in  striving  to  rebuke  the  real, 
or  supposed  sins  of  other  men,  forgets  the  enormity  of  its 
own,  and  fails  to  feel  and  act  upon  the  principle  announced 
by  our  blessed  Lord  in  saying  :  "  Suppose  ye  that  these  Gal- 


188  DR.  BLAGDEN'S  ADDRESS. 

ileans  were  sinners  above  all  the  Galileans,  because  they 
suffered  such  things  ?  I  tell  you,  Nay  ;  but  except  ye  repent 
ye  shall  all  likewise  perish." 

2.  In  the  more  contracted  sphere  of  his  personal  acquaint- 
ances and  friends,  Dr.  Woods  was  affectionate,  sympathizing, 
forbearing,  faithful.  Probably,  there  are  many  now  listening 
to  me,  who  would,  were  it  needful,  be  willing  and  swift  wit- 
nesses to  the  benevolence,  and  also  to  the  beneficence  of  his 
character  in  these  relations.  He  did  acts  of  kindness,  as  truly 
as  he  spoke  words  of  kindness  to  his  fellow  men.  Partic- 
ularly, towards  all  who  had  been,  or  were  his  pupils,  did  these 
traits  of  his  character,  when  called  for,  exhibit  themselves  in 
the  most  tender  and  efficient  manner.  I  well  remember,  I 
shall  never  forget,  the  deep  interest  he  showed  in  a  court  of 
justice  in  a  neighboring  city,  when  called  to  testify  respect- 
ing the  character  of  one  whom  he  had  formerly  instructed, 
charged  with  a  libel  on  one  of  its  citizens,  in  a  tract,  not 
wholly  unknown  to  fame,  —  as  its  writer  is  not  a  stranger  to 
the  public,  —  entitled  "  Deacon  Giles's  distillery."  The  good 
"  old  Doctor,"  as  we  have  sometimes  affectionately  called 
him,  persisted,  against  the  repeated  remonstrances  of  the 
State's  Attorney, —  and  I  am  not  sure  that  it  was  not  against 
the  instructions  of  the  Court  itself,  —  in  declaring  what  he 
esteemed  to  be  "  the  whole  truth,"  as  well  as  "  nothing  but 
the  truth,"  in  favor  of  the  amiable  character  of  his  former 
pupil. 

And  whenever  any  whom  he  instructed  were  distracted  by 
religious  difficulties,  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  they  ever 
found  in  him  the  kindest  and  most  sympathizing  friend. 

But  I  must  close.  One  point  only  remains  for  me  to  speak 
of,  respecting  the  domestic  character  of  Dr.  Woods.  During 
the  whole  of  my  acquaintance  with  him,  —  as  one  who  en- 
joyed the  privilege  of  occupying  a  room  in  his  own  dwelling- 
house,  —  for  the  three  years  of  my  course  in  the  Seminary, 
the  loveliness  and  faithfulness  of  his  character,  in  this  respect, 
was  continually  developed,  and  excited  my  admiration  and 


DR.  BLAGDEN'S   ADDRESS.  189 

esteem.  Pie  was  a  most  affectionate  and  faithful  husband 
and  father.  I  have  seen  him  in  times  of  domestic  affliction 
and  trial,  and  when  I  think  of  him  as  he  appeared  then,  I  am 
reminded  of  what  my  imagination  pictures  to  me  of  Abra- 
ham himself,  walking  forth  with  Isaac,  or  buying  of  the  sons 
of  Heth  a  burial-place  for  his  beloved  Sarah.  He  had  much 
of  the  dignity  and  the  tenderness  in  his  dignity  of  the  ancient 
patriarch. 

But  I  can  safely  leave  his  character,  in  these  respects,  to 
the  memory  of  most  of  you,  who  have,  like  me,  witnessed  its 
moral  and  domestic  beauty,  as  the  recollection  of  it  comes  to 
your  minds,  "  like  the  evening  sun,  pleasant  and  mournful  to 
the  soul." 

In  short,  the  infirmities  which  may  be  alleged  by  any  per- 
sons as  having  been  developed  in  him,  were  like  the  wilting 
and  decaying  foliage  hanging  about  a  rock.  The  excellencies 
of  his  character  tower  above  them  all ;  and,  as  I  presume, 
with  an  eye  of,  I  trust,  humble  and  sincere  faith,  to  look  for- 
ward with  you,  my  fathers  and  brethren  in  the  Christian 
ministry,  and  in  the  church  of  the  Redeemer,  to  that  august 
scene,  in  which  the  judgment  shall  be  set,  and  the  books 
opened,  and  the  awards,  happy  or  miserable,  of  eternity, 
shall  be  made  by  Christ  the  judge  cannot,  I  but  conceive 
that  amid  the  many  whom  we  have  all  known  and  loved  on 
earth,  —  and  whom  we  hope  to  see  and  greet  among  the  re- 
deemed there,  who  shall  meet  around  the  throne,  —  the  glori- 
fied form  of  him  of  whom  I  have  spoken  so  unworthily,  but 
sincerely,  shall  be  beheld  by  all  of  us,  near  unto  the  throne ;  — 
and,  as  he  bows  in  his  humility,  as  all  unworthy  of  the  bless- 
ings bestowed  on  him  by  grace,  Jesus,  the  Master,  shall  say 
graciously,  but  emphatically,  unto  him  :  "  Thou  shalt  walk 
with  me  in  white,  for  thou  art  worthy." 


100  DR.  ADAMS'S  ADDRESS. 

At  the  close  of  Dr.  Blagden's  address,  the  President 
said  : 

In  addition  to  the  speakers  to  whom  you  have  already 
listened  this  afternoon,  we  had  hoped  to  hear  several  others, 
upon  topics  specially  assigned,  and  some  besides  in  such 
brief  remarks  as  they  might  volunteer  upon  any  subject  sug- 
gested by  the  occasion. 

We  had  expected  a  tribute  to  Dr.  Pearson  from  Professor 
Park,  and  to  Dr.  Murdock  from  Professor  Stowe,  of  this 
Seminary ;  to  Dr.  Griffin,  from  Rev.  Mr.  Newton,  the  donor 
of  the  Cabinet  recently  received  by  the  Institution ;  to  Dr. 
Porter,  from  Professor  Howe,  of  South  Carolina;  to  Professor 
B.  B.  Edwards,  from  Dr.,  Sears,  of  Brown  University,  and 
Professor  Brown,  of  Dartmouth  College ;  to  Dr.  Justin  Ed- 
wards, from  Dr.  Jackson,  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  We  had 
also  hoped  to  hear  Professor  Harris,  of  Bangor  Seminary ; 
Rev.  Mr.  Butler,  of  Groton  ;  Rev.  Messrs.  Wolcott  and  Clapp, 
of  Providence,  and  others  ;  but  we  are  obliged  to  bring  these 
exercises  to  a  close. 

I  shall,  therefore,  call  upon  only  one  more,  and  he  knows 
how  to  be  brief.  Dr.  Nehemiah  Adams,  of  Boston,  will 
speak  to  us  of  Dr.  Porter, 

Dr.  Adams  came  forward  and  made  this  brief 


ADDRE  S  S. 

In  the  fall  of  1825,  being  then  a  Senior  in  Harvard  College, 
and  at  home  on  a  vacation,  my  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Cornelius,  of 
Salem,  requested  me  to  take  his  horse  and  chaise,  go  to  An- 
dover,  and  deliver  an  important  letter  to  Rev.  Dr.  Porter, 
which  Dr.  Cornelius  was  unwilling  to  trust  in  the  mail. 

I  found  my  way  into  that  study  which,  when  you  were 
Juniors,  many  of  you  remember  to  have  heard  was  difficult 
of  access.  The  way  of  approach  and  of  entering  after  knock- 


DR.  ADAMS'S  ADDRESS.  191 

ing,  and  the  appointed  pause  before  opening  the  inner  door, 
are  still  among  your  cherished  reminiscences  of  Andover. 
Being  a  stranger,  I  entered  as  I  would  a  less  hallowed  shrine. 
The  weather  being  cold,  I  remember  that  I  wore  a  large 
camblet  cloak.  On  entering  the  study,  Dr.  Porter,  whom  I 
had  never  met  before,  rose,  approached  me  with  great  kind- 
ness and  courtesy,  and,  instead  of  taking  the  letter,  which  I 
extended  to  him  while  commencing  my  message,  he  took  off 
my  cloak,  laid  it  over  a  chair,  requested  me  to  be  seated,  and 
then  he  received  my  communication. 

I  felt  that  I  was  in  the  presence  of  a  Christian  gentleman. 
College  life  had  not  furnished  me  with  precisely  the  same  ex- 
perience in  the  intercourse  between  teachers  and  pupils  ;  nor, 
perhaps,  could  it  be  expected  in  those  days.  Had  I  been  his 
pupil,  Dr.  Porter's  bearing  towards  me  might  have  been,  in  a 
greater  degree,  measured ;  nevertheless,  I  saw  and  felt  that  he 
knew  those  ways  of  gentleness  and  kindness  which  constitute 
the  soul  of  urbanity  and  true  politeness.  I  had  not  fully  re- 
solved where,  should  I  study  theology,  I  would  spend  my 
next  three  years.  But  in  that  room,  and  in  those  few  mo- 
ments, I  concluded  that  the  Seminary  in  which  that  gentle- 
man was  a  Professor,  had  a  powerful  attraction.  I  felt  per- 
suaded that  evangelical  religion  was  consistent  with  being  a 
high  bred  gentleman,  that  it  cultivated  not  only  the  under- 
standing, but  the  heart.  Some  impressions  contrary  to  this 
it  was  not  strange  should  be  made,  in  those  days,  at  Cam- 
bridge. 

As  I  am  to  touch  only  here  and  there  on  some  points  of 
Dr.  Porter's  character,  let  me  come  at  once  to  a  great  excel- 
lence in  him  as  a  Professor. 

He  was  never,  to  my  knowledge,  sarcastic  in  his  criticisms. 
After  these  long  years  of  being  criticised,  and  alas!  sometimes, 
of  criticising,  I  have  been  led  greatly  to  respect  Dr.  Porter  for 
the  manner  in  which  he  treated  our  literary  infirmities  and 
sins.  His  criticisms  left  no  sting ;  he  did  not  mortify  us  in  the 
presence  of  each  other,  yet  he  could  abase  one's  self-conceit ; 


192  DR.  ADAMS'S  ADDRESS. 

he  pointed  out  our  mistakes,  and  our  faults,  but  without 
applying  the  knife ;  he  seemed  rather  to  follow  Isaiah's  pre- 
scription :  — "  for  Isaiah  had  said,  Let  them  lay  a  lump  of 
figs  upon  the  boil,  and  he  shall  recover." 

He  was  a  majestic  preacher.  We  all  felt  elevated  in  listen- 
ing to  his  pulpit  performances.  It  was  always  a  joy  to  see 
him  enter  the  pulpit.  If  it  became  known  at  prayers,  or  at 
breakfast,  on  Sabbath  morning,  that  Dr.  Porter  was  to  preach, 
that  Sabbath  was  to  us  a  high  day.  When  he  told  us  how 
Chrysostom  said  that  "  the  pulpit  is  the  preacher's  throne," 
we  felt  that  he  understood  the  truth  of  that  saying.  I  well 
remember  the  conviction  which  I  used  to  have,  that  he  was  a 
godly  man,  from  the  way  in  which  he  made  me  forget,  in  the 
house  of  God,  all  his  rhetorical  instructions  in  the  lecture- 
room.  He  had  told  us  how  to  use  the  arm  in  speaking  — 
never  to  make  gestures  from  the  elbow,  but  always  from  the 
shoulder ;  all  the  ways  of  graceful  transition  in  a  discourse, 
the  rhetorical  pause,  the  gradation  of  proofs,  the  peroration 
—  he  had  instructed  us  in  these  things  ;  yet  in  his  preaching 
we  saw  no  signs  of  workmanship  —  but  we  felt  that  he 
walked  with  God,  that  he  preached  as  an  ambassador  for 
Christ,  and  not  as  a  scholar,  nor  as  a  professor. 

We  always  rather  enjoyed  his  inability  to  extemporize.  To 
give  a  notice,  which  required  explanations  or  qualifications, 
always  seemed  to  cost  him  much  effort,  and  we  were  happy 
when  he  was  safely  through  with  it.  I  fear  that  some  of  you 
(recently  from  College  then,  and  therefore  more  excusable), 
indulged  a  feeling  like  mirth,  when,  in  your  middle  and  senior 
years,  you  heard  him  tell  successive  junior  classes  how  to  en- 
ter his  study.  Such  things  made  us  love  him.  A  spice  of 
raillery  and  banter  which  good  friends  indulge  in,  one  toward 
another,  or  with  respect  to  one  whom  they  truly  love,  has 
both  a  flavoring  and  conserving  effect  in  friendship. 

What  an  invalid  he  was.  We  remember  him  as  struggling 
against  disease,  and  "  often  infirmities."  This  gave  us  a  pe- 
culiar interest  in  him.  "  The  bird  that  we  nurse  is  the  bird 


DR.  ADAMS'S   ADDRESS.  193 

that  we  love."  I  hear  the  raps  at  your  doors,  in  my  entry, 
and  the  call  given,  by  some  stalwart  middle-class  man,  the 
morning  after  a  great  fall  of  snow :  "  Come,  we  are  going 
to  shovel  out  Dr.  Porter."  Shovelling  snow,  and  mowing,  for 
the  Professors,  are  understood  now  to  be  among  the  "  lost 
arts,"  at  Andover.  But  the  mowing  was  done  with  a  will. 
O,  what  mowing!  Coming,  as  I  did,  from  a  seaport,  and  not 
having  had  the  advantages  of  a  rural  education,  I  looked  up- 
on those  mowers  as  belonging  to  a  superior  race  of  men.  I 
thought  of  the  lines  — 

"  In  ancient  times,  the  sacred  plough  employed 
The  Kings  and  awful  fathers  of  mankind." 

I  met  two  of  those  "fathers"  here  this  morning,  my  "Se- 
niors" in  the  Seminary  ;  even  then 

"  Arcades  ambo,  ambo  florenti  jctate," 

and  seemingly  no  otherwise  to-day.  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  stand 
by,  and  to  see  the  work  done  well  for  Dr.  Porter,  wondering 
all  the  while,  at  the  stroke  and  the  swarth ;  and  also  specu- 
lating whether  the  laws  of  mowing  and  mechanics  required 
the  snath  of  a  scythe  to  be  always  just  so  exactly  irregular 
and  crooked.  Then  came  Myra,  from  the  front  door, —  Myra 
Quackenbush — black  but  comely;  and, like  Evangeline  bring- 
ing "  drink  for  the  reapers,"  she  served  us,  overseers  and  labor- 
ers, without  distinction,  with  sweetened  water.  "  Days  of 
Summer's  glory  ! "  How  good  those  times  were  ;  how  good 
everybody  seemed ;  the  memory  of  those  scenes  and  friends 
is  like  the  smell  of  a  field  which  the  Lord  has  blessed. 

Dr.  Porter  was  a  pioneer  in  his  department,  as  really  as 
Professor  Stuart  was  in  his.  We  must  not  compare  the 
"  Analysis  of  Rhetorical  Delivery "  with  all  which  we  now 
possess  in  that  department  —  and  yet  it  would  not  suffer 
greatly  in  the  comparison.  But  think  how  entirely  destitute 
we  were  of  such  help  as  that  book  afforded  us.  I  do  not  ex- 

25 


194  DR.  ADAMS'S   ADDRESS. 

aggerate  its  value  when  I  ask,  if  it  was  not,  in  its  department, 
as  truly  an  advance  upon  all  which  had  gone  before  it,  for  a 
similar  purpose,  as  Professor  Stuart's  "  Hebrew  Chrestomathy 
and  Exercises"  were  in  his  line  of  instruction? 

But  I  am  trespassing  upon  your  attention  with  these  des- 
ultory remarks,  having  been  obliged  to  decline  a  formal  ap- 
pointment to  speak  on  a  given  topic,  and  being  called  upon 
now  to  say  a  few  words  in  place  of  a  distinguished  friend, 
the  Rev.  Professor  Howe,  of  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  who, 
I  am  happy  to  inform  you,  had  prepared  an  elaborate  notice 
of  our  revered  and  beloved  Dr.  Porter;  but  sickness  in  his 
family  detains  him.  So  that  1  cannot,  in  all  respects,  truly 
appropriate  these  words  —  and  yet,  the  latter  part  of  them 
will  be  verified  when  you  read  what  Professor  Howe  has 
written  : 

"  A  substitute  shines  brightly  as  a  king, 
Until  a  king  be  by  ;  and  then  his  state 
Empties  itself,  as  doth  an  inland  brook, 
Into  the  main  of  waters." 

I  am  informed  that  this  is  the  last  exercise  of  the  occasion. 
Allow  me,  then,  to  speak  of  the  thrilling  intelligence  which 
has  just  now  excited  us,  in  the  midst  of  our  celebration,  that 
the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Cable  is  laid.  We  have  been  looking 
up  and  saying  of  one  and  another  departed  great  and  good 
man,  "  My  father!  my  father!  the  chariots  of  Israel  and  the 
horsemen  thereof."  When  Elisha  had  done  so,  and  was  re- 
turning to  his  labors,  he  smote  the  waters,  and  the  waters 
were  divided.  So,  as  we  go  back  to  our  work,  we  find  the 
waters  divided  —  a  way  through  the  sea  lies  open  for  the  in- 
tercourse of  man  with  man,  exciting  and  cheering  us  on  to 
renewed  hopes  and  efforts,  in  the  work  which  the  cloud  of 
witnesses  on  high  have  committed,  in  their  turn,  to  the  men 
of  this  generation.  Let  it  be  said,  then,  of  us,  as  we  return 
from  this  place,  "  The  spirit  of  Elijah  doth  rest  upon  Elisha." 


DR.    HOWE'S    ADDRESS.  195 

The  address  of  Dr.  Howe,  to  which  Dr.  Adams  re- 
fers, has  been  received,  and  we  are  indebted  to  the 
author  for  the  opportunity  to  insert  it  here. 


Among  the  memories  of  this  scene  of  our  youth  were  those 
of  external  nature ;  the  broad  expanse  of  the  western  sky, 
with  its  glorious  sunset,  its  many  tinted  clouds  ;  the  wide 
landscape  of  hill  and  dale  and  distant  mountain,  and  the 
bleak,  piercing  winds  and  deep  snows  of  the  stern  New  Eng- 
land winters,  we  encountered.  But  those  memories  are  the 
deepest  and  most  precious,  which  recall  the  intellectual  world 
we  here  entered,  and  re-people  this  hill  with  the  forms  of  those 
we  loved  and  honored,  as  brethren  in  Christ ;  valued  compan- 
ions in  study,  or  chosen  and  bosom  friends,  or  revered  in- 
structors. Of  these,  our  second  parents,  to  whom  we  owe  so 
much  of  what  we  are ;  whose  example  and  enthusiasm  set 
our  whole  moral  machinery  in  motion ;  whose  wisdom  was 
our  guide ;  whose  uttered  opinion  our  oracle ;  whose  advice 
launched  us  upon  the  course  we  have  since  pursued,  and  so, 
shaped  our  fortunes  ;  from  whose  teachings,  whether  right  or 
wrong,  it  has  been  so  hard  for  us  to  depart,  we  cannot  speak, 
on  this  occasion,  save  in  the  language  of  grateful  affection. 
We  would  re-produce,  if  we  could,  as  Plato  did  in  Ms  re- 
hearsals, the  instructions  of  this  Academus,  where  not  only 
our  Socrates,  but  our  Aristotle  and  Quintilian  taught.  For 
if  our  teachers  are  not  destined  to  an  equal  immortality  of 
fame  with  these  men  of  Greece,  their  influence  was  as  im- 
portant to  us  as  theirs  to  the  sons  of  Athens,  and  far  more 
heavenly  and  divine. 

As  we  met  together  from  the  various  seats  of  our  Academic 
learning,  our  first  impression  was  of  a  holy  awe.  Our  em- 
ployments were  now  sacred.  We  had  come  to  "  Sion  hill," 
and  "  Siloa's  brook  that  flowed  fast  by  the  oracle  of  God." 
It  was  with  disappointment  that  we  found  the  taint  of  sin 
here  as  elsewhere.  It  was  still  earth,  and  not  heaven ;  the  outer 


196  DR.    HOWE'S    ADDRESS. 

court,  and  not  the  inner  sanctuary.  Yet,  for  the  most  part,  it 
was  a  place  of  Christian  friendship  and  enjoyment. 

Of  the  remarkable  man,  into  the  vortex  of  whose  influence 
we  first  fell,  and  of  our  battles  with  the  mystic  characters  and 
almost  invisible  vowel  signs  of  the  Shemitic  tongues ;  of 
this  enthusiastic  exegete  that  led  us  on ;  of  the  slow  moving, 
wary,  patient,  judicious,  truth-loving  man  who  presided  in  the 
Theological  class-room,  and  to  whom,  on  his  dying  bed,  "  the 
doctrines  appeared  more  truthful,  more  weighty,  more  precious 
than  ever,"  it  has  been  the  province  of  others  to  discourse. 
They  were  the  Origen  and  Augustine  of  the  little  sphere  in 
which  we  moved.  Of  another,  whom,  for  his  style  in  writing, 
we  will  call  our  Lactantius,  Ebenezer  Porter,  D.  D.,  and  who 
entered  upon  his  labors  here  later  than  they,  it  is  my  privilege 
briefly  to  speak. 

In  our  first  year  we  saw  him  at  a  distance.  He  was  manly 
and  prepossessing  in  person ;  benignant  in  his  countenance, 
yet  with  mingled  firmness,  intelligence,  and  good  humor,  and 
with  the  traces  of  physical  suffering  there  expressed ;  with  an 
easy  dignity  in  his  manners,  without  the  least  impetuosity  or 
rudeness.  We  first  heard  him  as  a  critic  of  our  imperfect 
rhetorical  efforts ;  judicious,  prompt,  yet  considerate  and  gen- 
tle in  pointing  out  our  faults ;  careful  in  his  guardianship  of 
our  Saxon  tongue,  and  assiduous  in  his  efforts  to  lead  us  to 
an  appreciation  of  the  noble  masters  of  eloquence  and  song,  of 
ancient  and  modern  times.  We  saw  him  in  the  pulpit, 
graceful  always  in  attitude,  peculiarly  so  in  gesture,  suiting 
the  action  to  the  uttered  word,  with  ease,  simplicity,  appro- 
priateness, and  timeliness,  beyond  anything  we  have  since 
seen.  His  discourses,  if  not  profound  in  thought,  nor  boast- 
ing the  attributes  of  striking  originality,  were  sound  in  doc- 
trine, perspicuous  alike  in  method  and  expression,  pure  in 
idiom,  simple,  finished  and  classical  in  style,  and  sometimes 
wrought  up  in  the  peroration  with  tender  pathos.  Often  was 
the  free  spirit  held  in  check  by  the  consciousness  of  physical 
weakness  ;  for  never  in  his  professional  days  was  he  otherwise 


DR.    HOWE'S    ADDRESS.  197 

than  an  invalid,  bearing  within  him  the  seeds  of  disease ;  and 
thus  he  sometimes,  of  necessity,  failed  to  interest  so  deeply. 
His  voice  too,  was  not  especially  mellifluous,  nor  strong,  nor 
naturally  of  great  compass  ;  but  in  his  happiest  efforts  what 
he  uttered  came  with  wonderful  impressiveness.  His  enun- 
ciation was  distinct  and  accurate,  delivering  his  words  "  like 
beautiful  coins  just  issued  from  the  mint,  neatly  struck  by  the 
proper  organs,"  with  force  enough  to  reach  the  ear  with  a  felt 
impulse ;  his  emphasis  was  appropriate  in  quality  and  justly 
laid ;  his  eye  was  piercing  in  its  gaze,  and  in  these,  his  hap- 
piest efforts,  he  thrilled  his  auditors  with  delight,  or  touched 
them  with  profound  emotion.  He  might  not  have  been  able 
to  thunder  in  the  Senate  House,  or  sway  the  stern  democracy 
in  a  popular  assembly,  and  certainly  he  was  not  gifted  with 
extemporaneous  speech,  but  by  a  cultivated  and  refined  au- 
dience few  were  listened  to  with  greater  satisfaction  and 
pleasure.  We  can  almost  now  hear  his  tones  as  he  read  the 
scriptures  at  our  evening  devotions ;  the  tenderness  with 
which,  in  the  scene  after  the  resurrection,  for  example,  he 
would  pronounce  the  name  of  Mary,  and  the  surprise  and 
reverence  his  voice  would  express  in  her  reply  —  "  Jesus  saith 
unto  her,  Mary.  She  turned  herself,  and  saith  unto  him, 
Rabboni"  And  we  can  scarcely  peruse  silently  those  hymns 
of  Watts,  and  those  passages  of  Shakspeare,  Young,  and 
Milton,  which  we  would  read  as  exercises  in  elocution  befoie 
him,  without  remembering  how  he  would  throw  life  and  senti- 
ment into  them  which  we  had  not  before  discovered.  His  read- 
ing was  itself  a  masterly  interpretation.  At  length  the  time 
arrived,  when,  in  the  third  stage  of  our  curriculum  here,  he 
became  our  special  teacher.  The  lectures  he  gave  us,  though 
not  profoundly  philosophic,  like  the  rhetoric  of  Campbell, 
were  well  suited  to  the  purpose  of  presenting  before  us  the 
grand  principles  of  the  Homiletic  art,  and  as  an  outline  in 
this  department  are  hardly  yet  surpassed.  It  is  enough  to 
say,  that  his  influence  in  correcting  our  taste  and  leading  us 
to  a  true  appreciation  of  chaste  and  correct  style,  only  failed 


108  DR.    HOWE'S    ADDRESS. 

through  our  own  stupidity  or  perverseness.  We  now  came 
to  know  him  as  a  man;  as  one  deeply  anxious  for  the  culture 
of  our  religious  affections  ;  as  a  counsellor,  far-seeing  and 
wise;  as  a  faithful  monitor  of  faults  that  might  injure  us :  as  a 
Christian  gentleman ;  as  a  kind  father.  If  we  became  inter- 
ested in  some  great  cause  of  Christian  charity;  if  we  saw,  as 
we  did,  our  wide  country  with  its  swelling  population  out- 
running the  spread  of  the  gospel;  if  we  were  convinced, 
young  men  as  we  were,  that  a  union  of  the  various  societies 
of  domestic  missions  was  needed  for  the  more  efficient  ex- 
tension of  Christian  institutions,  we  could  go  to  him  with 
the  suggestion,  he  could  lay  it  before  his  colleagues  and  before 
others,  and  the  Home  Missionary  Society  came  into  existence, 
and  no  one  know  whence  the  suggestion  proceeded.  His 
counsel  was  much  sought  for  in  prudential  matters,  and  com- 
mended itself  for  its  wisdom. 

The  day  drew  on  when  we  passed  from  our  pupilage, 
and  became  more  and  more  his  companions.  We  then 
saw  how  necessary  he  was  to  this  Institution,  in  winning 
friends,  holding  them  bound  to  it,  and  supplying,  through  long 
years,  those  pecuniary  means  needed  for  its  success.  We 
saw  him  presiding  here  with  dignity,  and,  with  the  aid  of  his 
colleagues,  securing  that  punctuality  and  order  so  beautiful 
to  behold  and  so  much  demanded  for  the  general  good.  We 
found  him  the  promoter  of  all  worthy  enterprises  —  of  some 
the  main-spring,  of  others  the  author.  In  the  Monday 
evening  meeting,  held  in  the  study,  and  attended  by  his 
colleagues  and  other  kindred  spirits,  originated,  probably, 
the  Monthly  Concert  for  prayer,  and  the  American  Tract 
Society. 

Of  his  valuable  services  in  connection  with  the  Society  for 
educating  indigent  candidates  for  the  ministry ;  of  his  efforts 
to  promote  the  just  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  im- 
provement of  Prison  Discipline  ;  of  his  public  spirit  manifest- 
ing itself  on  all  proper  occasions,  as  his  health  would  allow, 
for  the  advancement  of  sound  learning  and  his  country's  best 


DR.    HOWE'S     ADDRESS.  199 

good,  those  who  knew  him  well  could  testify.  In  those  dis- 
tant journeys  to  a  more  Southern  clime  his  health  compelled 
him  to  make,  though  his  waning  strength  and  characteristic 
modesty  forbade  his  seeking  notoriety,  he  won  many  friends, 
and  stimulated  others  to  deeds  of  charity  to  the  poor  student ; 
and  his  influence  in  this  respect,  though  his  name  may  not 
be  much  remembered,  has  not  perished.  He  showed  the 
way  in  this  method  of  doing  good,  and  other  institutions  are 
enjoying  the  fruits.  In  his  more  vigorous  days,  the  attempt 
was  often  made  to  draw  him  from  his  position  here  to  other 
posts  of  usefulness,  both  in  the  North  and  in  the  South,  but 
his  attachment  to  this  Seminary  ruled  unabated  till  death. 
He  was  free  from  all  radicalism  or  fanaticism  in  Church 
or  State ;  a  lover  and  defender  of  that  old  theology  which 
exalts  God  and  prostrates  man  in  the  dust ;  which  has  stood 
the  test  of  controversy;  has  been  victor  in  a  thousand  battles; 
which  in  Paul,  Augustine,  Calvin  and  Edwards,  asserted  its 
supremacy,  as  it  ever  will ;  from  whose  logic  and  truth  it  is 
impossible  to  escape,  and  in  which  the  heart  finds  peace  the 
more  it  is  sanctified.  He  was  a  man  to  whom  you  would  go, 
in  difficulty,  for  counsel,  and  in  seasons  of  despondency,  to 
be  animated  by  his  cheerful  piety,  and  inspirited  with  courage 
and  hope  by  his  tranquil  and  steady  resolve.  He  did  not 
dazzle  us  with  the  splendors  of  his  genius ;  he  did  not  over- 
whelm us  by  the  resistless  power  of  his  argument ;  he  did  not 
sway  us  by  the  strong  current  of  his  unrestrained  emotions ; 
he  did  not  amaze  us  by  the  vastness  and  multifariousness 
of  his  learning ;  but  he  satisfied  our  judgment,  and  when  we 
came  to  know  him  well,  he  won  our  hearts  and  held  them 
ever  in  filial  reverence.  More  and  more  did  his  feeble  nature 
succumb  to  the  power  of  disease.  He  delivered  his  lectures, 
possibly  for  the  last  time  they  were  pronounced,  in  the  infant 
Seminary  in  South  Carolina,  near  which  he  spent  the  winter 
of  1832-33,  and  his  voice,  though  managed  with  all  that  just 
emphasis,  modulation,  and  tone  which  characterized  his  utter- 
ance, was  then  barely  audible  in  a  room  of  moderate  dimen- 
sions. 


200  DR.  JACKSON'S   ADDRESS. 

At  length  the  lamp  in  his  earthly  tabernacle  went  out,  and 
the  man  of  many  virtues  and  few  faults,  whom  we  loved  and 
honored  so  much,  and  who  would  have  shone  more  brilliantly 
if  he  had  not  been  so  oppressed  with  physical  weakness,  ter- 
minated his  useful  and  honorable  life,  and  was  seen  no  more 
in  the  haunts  of  men.  We  assure  you  who  are  our  succes- 
sors here,  that  in  these,  our  teachers,  we  had  much  to  admire 
and  love.  If  they  were  not  free  from  weaknesses  and  faults, 
these  very  faults  are  instructive  to  us,  and  their  memory  is 
precious  to  our  country  and  the  world,  in  proportion  as 
they  abode  by  that  form  of  sound  words,  the  offspring  at 
once  of  a  just  interpretation  of  the  inspired  scriptures  and  of 
the  controversies  through  which  the  truth  has  passed  in  pre- 
ceding ages,  and  in  proportion  as  they  stood  firm  amidst  the 
agitations  of  the  times,  by  those  just,  conservative  principles 
our  fathers  maintained,  on  which  the  perpetuity  of  this  re- 
public rests. 

Dr.  Jackson  has  placed  at  our  disposal  the  following 
sketch  of  the  life  and  services  of  Dr.  Justin  Edwards, 
which,  for  reasons  that  will  be  obvious  to  the  reader, 
should  properly  be  inserted  in  this  connection. 

In  speaking  of  Dr.  Justin  Edwards,  I  have  two  purposes 
which  are  not  altogether  distinct.  One  is  to  present  him 
briefly  as  an  individual ;  the  other  is  to  present  him  and  An- 
dover  in  their  relation  to  great  moral  and  Christian  enter- 
prises—  Dr.  Edwards  as  an  instrument,  and  Andover  as  the 
place  of  their  origin.  By  attempting  to  embrace  the  two 
objects,  my  remarks  may  have  less  of  unity,  perhaps,  not 
less  of  interest. 

The  place  of  our  gathering  is  within  the  limits  of  what 
was  his  Parish.  For  more  than  five  and  thirty  years  his 
study  looked  out  upon  this  eminence,  and  almost  daily  he 
passed  these  grounds.  How  often  has  his  eye  rested  upon 


DR.  JACKSON'S  ADDRESS.  201 

these  lawns  and  avenues  and  edifices,  while  his  prayer  went_ 
up  to  heaven  that  all  might  be  for  Christ  and  the  good 
of  men.  Who  has  felt  a  deeper  interest  in  the  welfare*  of 
this  Seminary  ?  During  the  fifteen  years  that  he  was  pastor 
of  the  South  Church,  and  the  thirty-three  years  that  he  was 
a  trustee  of  the  Institution,  and  the  six  years  that  he  was  its 
president,  and  the  three  years  —  the  last  three  of  his  life  — 
that  he  presided  over  its  Board  of  Trust,  he  was  watchful  of 
its  every  interest,  giving  it  his  wisest  counsels,  attending  all 
the  meetings  of  its  guardians  and  "  Committee  of  Exigen- 
cies," suggesting  and  directing  skilfully,  presiding  efficiently, 
dispatching  promptly,  and  manifesting  good  sense  and  prac- 
tical wisdom  that  never  failed  and  are  seldom  surpassed. 

Within  the  period  of  his  official  connection  with  the  Sem- 
inary, from  1820  to  1853,  there  were  important  changes  —  a 
change  in  each  of  its  chairs  of  instruction.  No  trustee  was 
more  responsible  for  the  selection  of  men  to  fill  the  vacant 
chairs,  or  was  more  conversant  with  the  interior  of  the  insti- 
tution —  with  its  teachings  and  exercises,  its  doctrines  and 
duties,  or  had  a  more  determining  influence  on  its  character 
and  management.  Discerning,  sound,  and  evangelical  as  he 
was,  and  as  his  published  tracts  and  sermons  show  him  to 
have  been,  he  was  never  known  to  utter  an  opinion  or  even 
an  intimation  that  there  had  been  any  departure  from  the 
religious  faith  first  taught  in  the  Seminary.  Indeed,  he  was 
accustomed  till  the  close  of  his  life  to  express  entire  confi- 
dence in  the  fidelity  of  the  Institution,  in  all  its  departments, 
to  the  doctrinal  standard  prescribed  by  its  founders. 

The  prominent  characteristics  of  Dr.  Edwards  were  wis- 
dom, "  simplicity,  and  godly  sincerity,"  sustained  by  a  strong 
intellect  and  a  large  heart.  He  had  great  self-control,  prac- 
ticalness, quick  discernment  of  the  best  means  to  attain 
a  good  end,  energy  of  purpose,  and  an  ever  active,  far- 
reaching  benevolence.  He  was  wise  in  devising  and  equally 
wise  in  executing;  progressive  and  yet  cautious;  signally 
successful  and  as  signally  modest ;  grave  and  serious  in  man- 

26 


202  DR.  JACKSON'S   ADDRESS. 

ners  and  yet  uniformly  kind  and  courteous.  He  kept  his 
own  counsels,  uttered  his  opinions  carefully,  always  evincing 
moderation,  calmness  of  spirit,  and  a  profound  knowledge  of 
men.  His  power  of  persuasion  though  unpretending  was  often 
effective.  What  inimitable  simplicity  of  speech !  —  "  sound 
speech  that  cannot  be  condemned,"  and  "  always  with  grace." 

He  had  a  keen  wit  which  he  so  uniformly  restrained  that 
it  seldom  appeared,  though  it  occasionally  flashed  out.  A 
citizen  at  whose  house  he  called,  and  who  had  been  hostile 
to  his  ministry,  invited  him  to  partake  of  what  was  then  a 
common  beverage.  "  Mr.  Edwards,  here  is  what  I  call  good 
Arminian  cider."  The  quick  but  dignified  reply  was,  "  Ar- 
minianism,  I  think,  is  better  in  cider  than  anywhere  else." 

In  public  address,  if  there  was  not  grace  of  manner,  there 
was  so  much  grace  in  his  heart,  such  truth  and  reason  in  his 
matter,  that  he  won  the  regard  of  his  hearers.  He  delighted 
in  presenting  "  great  principles,"  in  a  "  plain,  simple  way." 
To  an  unusual  extent  he  could,  at  the  same  time,  meet  the 
capacities  of  the  unlearned  and  the  demands  of  the  cultivated. 
A  plain  farmer  who  had  heard  him  preach  constantly  for 
fifteen  years  said  to  me,  "  I  never  heard  Mr.  Edwards  preach 
a  deep  sermon."  Yet  one  of  the  oldest  ministers  in  the  An- 
dover  Association  once  told  me  that,  "  Dr.  Edwards,  early  in 
his  ministry,  read  before  the  association  the  ablest  and  best 
discourse  on  the  'decrees'  which  he  ever  heard."  There  was 
no  real  contrariety  in  these  statements.  To  the  farmer  the 
preaching  was  not  "  deep,"  because  it  was  so  simple  in  lan- 
guage and  reasoning  that  he  could  easily  apprehend  it,  while 
it  was  so  scriptural  and  logical  that  the  theologian  could  ad- 
mire it.  His  address  on  Sacred  Eloquence  delivered  before 
the  Porter  Rhetorical  Society,  which  was  republished  in  Eng- 
land, is  an  admirable  exemplification  of  the  art  it  commends. 

Most  of  us  specially  knew  Dr.  Edwards  as  a  Parish  minis- 
ter and  a  social  reformer.  His  devotion  to  the  religious  and 
moral  improvement,  not  only  of  his  people,  but  of  society  at 
large,  was  altogether  uncommon.  As  a  model  of  pastoral  ex- 


DR.   JACKSON'S   ADDRESS.  203 

cellence  before  several  successive  classes  here,  he  exerted  an 
invaluable  influence  upon  the  ministry.  In  the  lecture-room 
we  had  the  theory  —  in  him  the  example.  Probably  some 
of  us  remember  how  we  occasionally  forsook  the  chapel 
to  hear  him  at  the  South  Church,  and  how  we  frequented 
his  Bible  classes  for  adults  which  became  so  famous  through- 
out New  England.  He  was  never  more  interesting  and  elo- 
quent than  in  his  biblical  discourses.  His  memory  and  heart 
seemed  to  be  full  of  the  Bible,  and  it  flowed  from  his  lips  with 
peculiar  fluency  and  pertinence,  while  tremulous  tones  and  a 
tearful  eye  often  indicated  his  deep  sympathy  with  it. 

All  of  us,  probably,  remember  him  as  a  pioneer  agent  in 
his  greatest  work,  the  temperance  reform  —  how  he  started 
the  movement ;  how  judiciously  and  persuasively  he  pre- 
sented facts  according  to  his  maxim,  "  light  and  love  ;  "  how 
carefully  he  refrained  from  all  controversy,  ridicule,  and  even 
humor ;  how  skilfully  and  with  what  consummate  prudence 
he  met  the  exciting  questions  and  conflicts  that  arose  in  the 
progress  of  the  enterprise  ;  and  how  he  conducted  it  against 
the  combined  power  of  habit,  fashion,  and  interest,  to  triumphs 
which  have  been  the  wonder  of  the  world. 

There  is  one  spot  near  us  which  has  to  me  more  interesting 
associations  than  any  other  upon  these  grounds.  It  is  not  the 
chapel  with  its  hallowed  reminiscences  ;  not  the  lecture-room 
where  we  almost  see  the  forms  of  venerated  teachers;  not 
the  cemetery  where  we  visit  their  graves ;  nor  yet  the  adjacent 
grove  which  has  witnessed  the  solitary  walks  and  self-dedica- 
tions of  young  men  training  themselves  to  be  servants  and. 
perhaps,  martyrs  for  Christ.  I  refer  to  the  study  of  the  Bart- 
let  Professor;  the  study  planned  by  Dr.  Griffin,  first  occu- 
pied by  Dr.  Porter,  afterwards  by  Dr.  Edwards  as  President 
of  the  Seminary.  If  its  unwritten  history  could  be  published, 
it  would  form  an  interesting  chapter  in  the  religious  annals  of 
our  country  and  of  Christendom.  It  would  reveal  sugges- 
tions of  wise  forecast,  original  plans  of  usefulness,  the  start- 
ing of  thoughts  and  movements  and  institutions  amidst  con- 


204  DR.  JACKSON'S  ADDRESS. 

ference  and  prayer,  the  influence  of  which  has  gone  to  the 
ends  of  the  world.  Soon  after  its  occupancy  by  the  second 
professor  of  rhetoric  in  1812,  there  was  established  in  it  a 
weekly  meeting  for  prayer  and  for  devising  ways  and  means 
of  doing  good.  It  was  held  of  a  Monday  evening  and  con- 
tinued for  many  years.  The  habitual  attendants  were  Por- 
ter, Woods,  Stuart,  Farrar,  Newman,  Adams,  and  the  young 
pastor  of  the  South  Church.  Though  Edwards  was  the 
youngest,  there  was  no  one  even  in  this  noble  brotherhood 
more  "  wise  unto  that  which  is  good" — more  progressive  and 
sagacious  in  devising  it,  or  more  efficient  in  doing  it.  And 
in  this  little  meeting  there  were  planted,  or  cherished  into 
growth,  many  germs  which  are  now  "  plants  of  renown,"  and 
"  trees  of  life." 

In  the  originating  thought,  or  the  essential  encouragement, 
if  not  the  organized  form,  Andover  is  the  birth-place  of  the 
wisest  and  grandest  schemes  which  piety  and  benevolence 
have  devised  in  our  country  for  the  good  of  mankind.  For 
the  most  part  they  were  planned,  or  were  subjects  of  prelim- 
inary concert  and  discussion  in  this  study,  and  Dr.  Edwards 
had  an  important  agency  in  originating,  or  in  maturing 
them. 

It  has  been  already  affirmed  in  our  hearing,  that  in  An- 
dover the  scheme  of  Foreign  Missions  first  assumed  the 
visible  and  tangible  form  which  gave  rise  to  the  American 
Board.  Gordon  Hall,  James  Richards,  and  Samuel  J.  Mills 
were  with  Edwards  in  college,  and  they  all  were  one  in  spirit. 
Richards  and  Mills,  together  with  Warren,  were  his  class- 
mates in  the  Seminary.  Mills  was  one  of  the  four  stu- 
dents whose  names  were  signed  to  that  memorable  paper 
which  was  drawn  up  here,  and  which,  after  consultation,  was 
presented  to  the  General  Association,  and  led  to  the  imme- 
diate formation  of  the  earliest  and  largest  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Association  in  our  land.  In  Andover  was  prepared  the 
first  memoir  ever  written  in  this  country  of  a  foreign  mis- 
sionary—  that  of  Harriet  Newell,  which  was  a  powerful 


DR.  JACKSON'S  ADDRESS.  205 

means  of  awakening  and  diffusing  a  missionary  spirit,  and  of 
since  multiplying  the  number  whose  early  fall  on  foreign 
fields  has  occasioned  similar  yet  bright  records  of  Christian 
heroism.  Here,  too,  was  instituted  the  Monthly  Concert. 
The  proposal  of  such  a  union  of  Christians  in  America,  which 
had  already  existed  in  Scotland,  was  made  and  considered  at 
the  meeting  in  this  study.  It  resulted  in  a  circular  written 
and  sent  forth  by  Dr.  Edwards  in  1815,  in  favor  of  establish- 
ing such  a  concert. 

In  1813,  Dr.  Porter  purchases  a  little  book,  when  the 
thought  strikes  him,  that  by  associated  action  and  contribu- 
tion, religious  publications  might  be  made  cheaper  and  more 
generally  diffused.  This  thought  was  presented  to  the  little 
meeting  of  brethren  in  his  study,  and  at  once  grew  into  the 
New  England  Tract  Society,  which  was  organized  in  Boston 
in  1814,  having  the  centre  of  its  operations  in  Andover  till 
1825,  when  it  became  the  American  Tract  Society  at  New 
York.  Of  this  enterprise  Dr.  Edwards  was  a  constant  and 
working  benefactor  till  his  death.  He  helped  to  found  it; 
had  the  principal  management  of  it  for  several  years  while  a 
pastor;  and  was  one  of  its  directors,  special  advisers,  and 
publishing  committee.  Some  of  its  most  useful  tracts  and 
largest  publications  were  prepared  by  him  ;  and,  as  I  am  in- 
formed by  one  of  its  secretaries,  the  Society  has  printed  and 
circulated  more  pages  from  his  pen  than  from  the  pen  of  any 
other  writer,  living  or  dead,  in  this  or  in  any  land. 

The  question  has  been  more  than  once  raised,  "  Who  orig- 
inated and  established  the  first  religious  newspaper  in  the 
world  ?  "  There  is  still  a  living  witness  here,  of  unquestion- 
able veracity  and  accuracy,  who  distinctly  remembers  that 
before  such  a  paper  was  printed,  the  idea  of  it  was  started 
and  discussed  in  the  meeting  of  brethren  at  Andover ;  that  by 
them  in  connection  with  Dr.  Morse,  Jeremiah  Evarts  and 
others,  it  was  matured  into  a  reality ;  that  in  this  study  it 
was  decided  that  its  name  should  be  RECORDER,  and  that  its 
first  editor  should  be  Sydney  E.  Morse.  Another  witness  yet 


206  DR.  JACKSON'S   ADDRESS. 

living,  John  Adams,  LL.  D.,  for  many  years  principal  of  Phil- 
lips Academy,  and  one  of  the  honored  fraternity,  testifies  to 
precisely  the  same  facts  as  within  his  clearest  recollections. 
He  states  positively,  as  a  matter  of  personal  knowledge,  that 
"  the  Boston  Recorder  had  its  birth  in  Dr.  Porter's  study." 
At  one  of  the  meetings  here,  there  were  remarks  on  the 
alarming  progress  of  Sabbath  desecration,  and  on  the  best 
means  of  arresting  it.  It  was  proposed  that  suitable  arti- 
cles on  the  subject  be  prepared  for  the  newspapers ;  the  res- 
ponse was  made  that,  "  not  a  newspaper  in  Boston  would 
publish  them."  Says  Dr.  Porter :  "  Well,  if  so,  it  is  time  we 
had  a  paper  that  will."  "  Here  was  the  origin  of  the  Boston 
Recorder."  It  is  concurrent  testimony  that  before  the  paper 
was  issued,  and  in  speaking  of  it,  Dr.  Morse  says  in  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Farrar :  "  We  depend  on  you  at  Andover  to  ripen  the 
plan ;  we  are  ready  to  unite  in  carrying  it  into  execution." 
There  is  also  written  evidence,  which  I  have  seen,  that  the 
first  printer  and  first  editor  gave  a  bond  to  Dr.  Worcester, 
Mr.  Farrar,  and  Dr.  Edwards,  as  trustees,  which  recognizes 
in  them,  at  the  outset,  a  right  of  absolute  control,  and  implies 
a  relation  to  the  paper  and  a  power  over  it  which  belong  only 
to  founders  or  responsible  managers. 

While  Dr.  Porter  was  a  pastor  in  Connecticut  he  often 
visited  his  venerable  father,  Judge  Porter,  of  Tinmouth,  Vt. 
In  that  vicinity  he  learned  from  a  minister  who  had  been  his 
companion  in  boyhood  and  in  college,  that  the  pastors  and 
laymen  there  among  the  Green  Mountains  had  formed  in 
1804,  a  society  for  aiding  young  men  in  their  education  for 
the  ministry.  He  was  greatly  interested  in  its  object,  often 
inquired  after  its  success,  and  it  became  his  favorite  method 
of  charity,  as  appears  from  his  testamentary  gifts.  On  com- 
ing to  Andover  he  felt  that  the  time  had  arrived  for  the  for- 
mation of  a  similar  society  which  should  be  national  in  its 
operations.  The  scheme  is  suggested  to  Christians  here  and 
elsewhere.  Dr.  Edwards,  who  had  struggled  through  pecu- 
niary embarrassments  into  the  ministry,  cooperated  with  all 


DR.  JACKSON'S  ADDRESS.  207 

his  heart.  It  is  talked  over  at  the  study-meeting  in  Andover, 
also  at  a  prayer-meeting  of  young  men  in  Boston.  The  lat- 
ter issue  a  circular  in  1815 ;  a  meeting  is  called ;  a  founder 
of  the  Seminary  and  one  of  its  first  elected  professors,  Dr. 
Pearson,  officiates  as  chairman  ;  Pearson,  Porter,  Woods  and 
Stuart  are  of  a  committee  of  ten  to  frame  a  constitution. 
Thus  arose  the  American  Education  Society. 

That  the  American  Bible  Society  was  originated  through 
any  influence  proceeding  from  Andover  is  not  affirmed ;  yet 
it  is  certain  that,  before  it  was  organized  in  New  York,  the 
importance  of  such  a  national  institution,  in  addition  to  the 
Massachusetts  State  Bible  Society,  was  a  matter  of  special 
consultation  in  this  circle  of  brethren.  And  it  may  be  stated 
with  confidence  that  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society 
was  the  result  of  thoughts  and  suggestions  that  went  forth 
from  this  place. 

The  relation  of  Dr.  Edwards  to  the  temperance  reforma- 
tion, makes  it  specially  appropriate  to  remark  that  it  was 
originated  in  Andover,  by  him,  with  encouragement  from  the 
professor's  study.  This  is  true  of  it  in  the  special  form  in 
which  it  achieved  its  grandest  results.  In  April,  1814,  a  little 
more  than  a  year  after  he  became  a  pastor,  there  was  organ- 
ized through  his  efforts,  "  The  Andover  South  Parish  Society 
for  Doing  Good."  A  specified  object  was  to  "  discountenance 
intemperance,"  and  "  promote  temperance."  Here  is  the  germ 
of  the  great  reformation.  It  was  before  this  Society  that  Dr. 
Porter  preached  that  splendid  sermon  — "  Great  Effects  re- 
sult from  Little  Causes"  —  a  subject  singularly  prophetic. 
As  early  as  1816,  in  a  Fast  sermon  of  unusual  local  fame, 
Dr.  Edwards  distinctly  announced  the  principle  which  became 
the  basis  of  the  reformation,  "  It  is  temperate  using  which 
gives  the  relish,  prepares  the  way,  and  opens  the  door  to  in- 
temperance." "  Keep  temperate  people  temperate."  Says 
a  European  writer,  "  On  whose  mind  this  great  truth  first 
rose  is  not  known.  Whoever  he  was,  whether  humble  or 
great,  peace  to  his  memory.  He  has  done  more  for  the  world 


208  DR.  JACKSON'S  ADDRESS. 

than  he  who  enriched  it  with  the  knowledge  of  a  new  conti- 
nent ;  and  posterity  to  the  remotest  generation  shall  walk  in 
the  light  which  he  has  thrown  around  them." 

The  announcement  of  this  principle  was  ten  years  before 
the  first  associated  action  which  specially  inaugurated  the 
reform.  Towards  the  close  of  1826  he  organized  an  "  Asso- 
ciation of  Heads  of  Families  for  the  promotion  of  Temper- 
ance," and  the  first  name  on  the  pledge  is  E.  Porter,  and  the 
six  following  names  are  of  Professors  and  resident  Trustees. 
Simultaneously  he  formed  a  similar  "  Association  of  Young 
Men ; "  and  I  now  recall  his  mien  and  look  as  on  a  winter's 
day  he  entered  my  room  in  the  Seminary  and  solicited  my 
name  to  his  pledge.  The  first  seventeen  subscribers  were  of 
my  class,  then  seniors,  while  of  the  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
eight  upon  the  list  more  than  three-fourths  were  members  of 
this  Institution.  These  were  the  first  associations  with  an 
abstinence  pledge ;  the  first  of  such  organized  movements 
towards  the  reform  which  so  changed  the  social  usages  of 
the  land.  Thus  our  Seminary  stood  foremost  in  the  reforma- 
tion; its  professors  and  students  were  the  first  links  in  the 
chain  which,  with  a  higher  than  electric  force,  carried  peace 
and  happiness  to  the  hearts  and  homes  of  millions.  More- 
over, about  this  time  there  was  a  consultation  at  the  profes- 
sor's study  which  resulted  in  the  formation  at  Boston  of  the 
American  Temperance  Society,  of  which  Dr.  Edwards  was 
the  first  agent.  In  less  than  ten  years  from  its  formation, 
January  1,  1835,  Dr.  Edwards  says  in  a  letter  to  the  King 
and  Crown-Prince  of  Prussia,  "  The  number  of  Temperance 
Societies  formed  in  this  country  is  more  than  7000  ;  and  the 
number  of  persons  who  have  united  with  them  more  than 
1,250,000.  More  than  10,000  distilleries  have  been  stopped, 
and  more  than  7000  merchants  have  abandoned  the  traffic  in 
spirituous  liquors.  More  than  a  thousand  vessels  now  sail 
from  our  ports  in  which  no  such  liquors  are  used ;  and  more 
than  10,000  persons,  who  a  few  years  ago  were  drunkards, 
now  use  no  intoxicating  drink." 


i >  K .  JACKSON'S   ADDRESS.  209 

The  Temperance  Documents  prepared  by  Dr.  Edwards,  as_ 
to  the  power  of  their  facts  and  appeals,  are  not  surpassed  by 
anything  in  the  literature  of  philanthropy  ;  and  their  distribu- 
tion by  hundreds  of  thousands  was  evidence  of  the  awakened 
interest  of  the  country.  The  substance  of  them  comprised 
in  a  "  Temperance  Manual,"  was  translated  into  German, 
French,  and  Spanish,  and  had  a  circulation  almost  or  quite 
unparalleled.  Judge  McLean  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  in  a  letter  of  Dec.  17,  1847,  wrote  him,  "  I 
feel  the  greatest  interest  in  saying  that  I  have  never  perused 
a  treatise  on  the  subject  which  condensed  in  so  few  pages,  so 
many  facts  and  arguments  so  unanswerable." 

'More  recently,  on  leaving  his  office  as  President  of  the 
Seminary,  and  while  occupying  the  study  of  such  hallowed 
memories,  he  determined  to  devote  himself  to  promoting  a 
better  observance  of  the  Sabbath.  In  this  cause  he  labored 
for  seven  years  with  an  earnestness,  self-denial,  wisdom,  and 
success  equalled  only  by  his  labors  in  behalf  of  temperance. 
And  what  can  more  strikingly  show  his  power  and  fitness  as 
an  instrument  for  such  a  work,  than  the  single  fact  that  after 
laboring  only  two  and  a  half  years,  he  witnessed,  as  the  result 
mainly  of  his  influence  and  efforts,  a  National  Sabbath  Con- 
vention of  1700  delegates,  from  eleven  different  States,  pre- 
sided over  by  an  ex-President  of  the  Union  —  John  Quincy 
Adams.  In  prosecuting  this  reform  he  travelled  48,000  miles 
and  through  twenty-five  of  the  United  States. 

And  then  his  last  great  work  —  his  Comment  upon  the 
Bible;  pursued  with  all  his  heart  and  energy  as  if  antici- 
pating that  the  hand  of  death  would  arrest  it ;  pursued 
with  a  love  for  God  and  man  which  only  the  Bible  can 
inspire  ;  pursued  at  home  and  abroad,  under  many  infirmi- 
ties, and  till  overtaken  by  those  days  of  agony  which  ter- 
minated his  earthly  course,  —  what  a  fitting  close  for  such  a 
life! 

I  know  of  no  better  illustration  of  Dr.  Edwards's  spirit  and 
character  than  his  own  admirable  rules  of  life  prescribed  for 

27 


210  REV.  MR.  NEWTON'S   ADDRESS. 

himself  when  entering  upon  his  ministry,  three  of  which  were 
the  following : 

"  Cherish  no  thoughts,  indulge  no  feelings,  speak  no  words, 
and  do  no  actions  except  what  you  really  think  will  most 
honor  God,  most  benefit  yourself  and  others,  and  give  you 
the  greatest  joy  when  they  come  to  be  exhibited  at  the  judg- 
ment day." 

"  Never  express  or  indulge  the  least  degree  of  unkindness 
towards  any  human  being,  and  give  no  needless  pain  to  any 
of  the  human  race,  or  any  even  to  the  animal  creation." 

"  Make  it  your  object  to  promote  the  greatest  happiness  on 
the  whole  of  all  upon  whom  you  may  have  influence,  both  of 
the  present  and  of  all  future  generations." 

These  rules  were  the  index  and  expression  of  his  character. 
What  higher  testimony  can  be  given  ?  J  could  give  more,  for 
I  knew  him.  By  his  agency  I  was  led  to  become  the  pastor 
of  a  church  formed  from  his  own  church.  My  people  had 
been  his  people,  and  we  were  adjacent  shepherds  of  inter- 
mingling flocks.  For  nearly  thirty  years  we  were  townsmen. 
A  good  and  only  a  good  report  of  him  was  on  the  lips  of  all. 
In  all  his  relations,  personal  and  professional,  public  and  pri- 
vate, he  was  wise  and  good.  Some  men  are  remarkable  only 
in  eulogy.  In  this  case  the  record  speaks.  Good  deeds  writ- 
ten on  earth  and  in  heaven  are  his  memorial. 


The  tribute  to  Dr.  Griffin,  which  it  was  hoped  there 
might  be  opportunity  to  hear  from  Eev.  Mr.  Newton,  is 
comprised  in  the  following  sketch,  prepared  for  this 
volume. 

At  a  distance  of  several  days'  journey  from  the  metropolis 
of  New  England,  as  the  means  of  travelling  then  were,  and 
among  the  then  so-called  New  Settlements,  theological  dis- 
cussions in  family  and  neighborhood  circles,  served  in  no 
small  degree,  to  add  interest  to  those  social  interviews  of 
winter  evenings  around  the  broad  hearth  and  big  fire  —  afford- 


REV.  MR.  NEWTON'S   ADDRESS.  211 

ing  the  principal  light  for  conversation,  reading,  study,  or— 
work.  It  was  then  and  there  also  that  the  Bible  was  read 
and  studied  with  close  thinking  for  authority  to  defend  and 
for  arguments  to  oppose  declared  views  of  the  doctrines  of 
total  depravity ;  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  personal 
election  from  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  and  the 
Divinity  of  Christ.  These  discussions  called  into  action  the 
full  strength  of  mental  energy,  and  not  unfrequently  carried 
opponents  into  depths  which  neither  could  fathom.  Instances 
occurred  in  which  the  spirit  of  God  followed  those  investiga- 
tions, and  vigorous  opposers  of  those  doctrines  were  hopefully 
converted,  and  gave  their  life  and  strength  in  their  defence. 
Through  their  instrumentalities  others  experienced  a  similar 
change.  These  influences  were  diffusive,  extending  through 
a  neighborhood,  community,  settlement,  or  township. 

Similar  scenes  were  witnessed  in  the  young  New  England 
Colleges,  where  those  doctrinal  points  found  their  warm  ad- 
herents and  bitter  opposers.  Here,  too,  upon  these  seats  of 
learning  the  Divine  Spirit  rested,  and  students  became  the 
hopeful  subjects  of  that  free,  rich,  sovereign  grace  that  bring- 
eth  salvation. 

In  those  days,  these  seasons  were  called  reformations.  The 
subjects  were  reformed  in  sentiment,  to  embrace  evangelical 
truth  —  and  in  practice,  from  a  prayerless  to  a  prayerful  life. 
These  seasons  were  also  called  revivals,  for  the  reason  that 
the  spirit  of  the  gospel  glowed  with  renewed  fervor  in  the 
hearts  and  lives  of  its  professors  —  terms  as  significant  for 
those  times  as  excitements  are  for  the  present. 

Students  who  had  hopefully  experienced  a  saving  change 
of  heart,  directed  their  attention  to  a  preparation  for  the 
gospel  ministry.  It  was  intimated  that  a  plan  was  in  the 
process  of  consummation  by  which  a  course  of  systematic 
theological  instruction  was  intended  to  be  provided  for  any 
wishing  to  avail  themselves  of  such  advantages,  prepara- 
tory to  the  work  of  their  sacred  calling.  The  founding  of 
Divinity  College  in  Andover,  upon  the  sound  standard  of 


212  REV.  MR.  NEWTON'S   ADDRESS. 

evangelical  truth  was  "  like  good  news  from  a  far  country." 
The  names  of  the  founders  and  their  munificence  sounded 
magnificently.  The  lovers  of  the  orthodox  faith  rejoiced  — 
college  students  directed  their  attention  towards  that  new  seat 
of  theological  science,  with  deep  solicitude,  contriving  ways 
and  means  to  reap  its  proffered  advantages.  Important  move- 
ments were  then  in  progress.  The  erection  of  Park  street 
Church  in  Boston  by  the  advocates  of  a  pure  faith,  as  a 
bulwork  for  the  defence  of  Zion,  in  that  beloved  city,  was 
hailed  with  joy.  The  Rev.  Edward  Dorr  Griffin,  D.  D.  of 
Newark,  N.  J.,  received  the  appointment  to  the  Professor- 
ship of  what  students  called  "pulpit  oratory"  in  the  new 
institution.  He  was  reported  to  be  a  revival  preacher. 
His  missionary  sermon  was  read  with  intense  interest. 
His  appointment  gave  the  highest  degree  of  satisfaction, 
especially  to  students,  who,  in  their  enthusiasm,  looked 
upon  him  as  the  most  accomplished  orator  in  the  American 
pulpit.  This  gave  them  unshaken  confidence  in  the  ultimate 
success  of  the  Institution,  and  served  to  fire  them  with  re- 
newed purposes  to  avail  themselves  of  its  privileges. 

Late  in  the  autumn  of  1809,  I  was  numbered  among  the 
hopeful  'subjects  of  a  reformation,  and  in  the  following  spring 
was  received  as  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church, 
and  graduated  in  August.  Young  and  inexperienced  as  I 
was,  with  but  little  or  no  confidence  in  myself,  with  embar- 
rassments within  and  without,  yet  from  a  sense  of  duty,  I 
resolved  on  the  ministry  as  my  profession.  It  was  at  that 
eventful  period  in  the  history  of  New  England  churches  when 
several  young  men  had  been  before  the  General  Association 
of  Massachusetts  offering  their  services  as  foreign  mission- 
aries to  the  heathen,  seeking  advice  and  direction  from  that 
venerable  body.  Such  self-consecration  awakened  in  others 
much  close  examination  of  heart  as  to  their  own  qualifica- 
tions for  their  Master's  work. 

A  few  days  before  the  opening  of  the  term  in  the  autumn 
of  1810,  I  took  the  stage,  and  on  the  third  day  arrived  in  An- 


REV.  MR.  NEWTON'S   ADDRESS.  213 

clover,  and  was  landed  from  off  the  stage  upon  the  turnpike 
opposite  Phillips  Hall,  at  a  point  where  there  was  an  opening 
through  the  wall  to  a  foot  path  leading  through  a  bush-pas- 
ture, clothed  with  wild  shrubbery,  up  to  the  college.  Here  I 
gathered  up  my  luggage  and  followed  the  muddy  pathway, 
striding  over  sloughs  from  stone  to  stone,  neither  few  nor  far 
between,  and  landed  myself  and  baggage  in  Divinity  College, 
accomplishing  an  object  which  had  been  the  occasion  of  many 
anxious  thoughts  for  many  an  aching  hour.  On  the  day  for 
the  commencement  of  the  term,  the  candidates  for  the  Junior 
class  were  directed  to  Dr.  Griffin's  residence,  on  the  road  lead- 
ing from  the  old  tavern  to  the  South  Church,  for  their  exam- 
ination. This  was  a  trying  moment  to  one  of  their  num- 
ber, with  a  piteous  sense  of  unworthiness  and  unfitness,  with 
foreboding  fears  of  the  result,  expecting  to  meet  a  man  of 
distinguished  excellence  as  a  minister  —  honored  with  the 
chair  of  a  professorship.  Who  but  the  experienced  can  im- 
agine the  surprise  of  meeting  the  man  of  such  unexpected 
physical  dimensions,  towering  some  six  feet,  well  proportioned, 
broad  across  the  breast,  with  a  large  face,  and  two  small  keen 
eyes  peeping  out  of  the  mass  of  flesh  in  which  they  were 
incased  —  moving  with  moderate,  majestic,  and  graceful  ease 

—  with  a  soft  sympathizing  voice,  extending  the  hand  with  the 
cordial  grasp  of  an  affectionate  father  on  meeting  an  only  son 

—  obliterating  in  a  moment  all  anticipated  embarrassment. 
The  examination  was   close   and  critical  upon   Christian 

experience,4  motives  of  seeking  the  ministry, 'and  the  duty  of 
entire  consecration  to  God.  Upon  the  literary  qualifications 
there  was  less  scrutiny  and  more  forbearance.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  we  felt  well  when  it  was  not  said,  "  Thou  art 
weighed  in  the  balance  and  found  wanting."  At  this  time  it 
was  understood  that  Dr.  Griffin  was  supplying  a  vacancy  in 
Park  street  Church,  Boston,  and  there  was  danger  of  his  leav- 
ing his  professorship  for  the  pastorate  of  that  church  ;  at  this 
his  pupils  remonstrated  without  effect.  He  remained,  how- 
ever, for  a  few  months,  dividing  his  labors  between  the  church 


214  REV.  MR.  NEWTON'S  ADDRESS. 

and  his  pupils.  His  instructions  were  affectionate  and  famil- 
iar—  enforcing  his  views  of  plans  and  the  composition  of 
sermons  —  their  delivery  —  together  with  the  duties  of  a 
pastor.  He  enjoined  an  erect,  firm,  easy  position  in  the  pul- 
pit, avoiding  a  see-saw  swing  of  the  body  —  a  rising  and  fall- 
ing motion  upon  the  toes,  and  all  other  uncouth  and  eccen- 
tric movements  to  divert  the  attention  of  an  audience  from 
the  illustrations  of  truth  under  consideration.  He  also  en- 
joined clearness  of  expression,  correct  pronunciation,  with 
dignified  and  appropriate  gestures.  Memory  is  tenacious  of 
his  criticism  of  the  first  sermon  presented  by  a  member  of  the 
class.  The  class  being  assembled  and  seated  in  a  student's 
room  (for  then  no  other  accommodations  were  had),  after  a 
short  but  fervent  prayer,  by  way  of  introduction,  Dr.  Griffjn 
addressed  himself  to  the  class  in  language  something  like  the 
following :  "  Young  gentlemen,  we  have  met  to  criticise  a 
sermon,  and  all  feelings  are  to  be  laid  aside  at  the  seeming 
severity  of  remarks  which  may  follow."  As  the  criticism 
advanced  it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  production,  as  an 
apology  for  a  sermon,  was  to  be  used  up  by  hands  without 
gloves,  requiring  the  grace  of  an  apostle  to  gather  up  the 
shattered  fragments  without  feeling  —  but  not  without  leav- 
ing impressions,  indelibly  fixed,  of  just  criticism  and  of  lasting 
utility.  Dr.  Griffin  was  a  gentleman  of  refined  and  cultivated 
taste,  neat  in  his  dress,  sociable,  and  of  easy  manners.  More 
than  this,  he  was  loved  as  a  good  man  and  a  bold  defender 
of  truth.  Professor  Stuart  was  a  great  favorite  of.  mine  as  a 
preacher,  for  he  would  preach  right  at  you  —  but  Dr.  Griffin 
would  soar  aloft  through  regions  of  space,  and  pounce  down 
upon  you,  as  an  eagle  upon  its  prey.  As  he  left  the  Institu- 
tion in  1811,  there  remained  a  chasm  broad  and  deep.1 

1  We  here  add  to  the  brief  notice  of  Dr.  Griffin  in  the  text,  some  interest- 
ing personal  reminiscences  of  him  as  a  preacher  in  Park  Street  Church,  which 
their  recent  semi-centennial  celebration  has  brought  out.  A  writer  in  the 
Boston  Recorder,  among  other  sketches  of  incidents  and  persons  connected 


PROF.  STOWE'S   ADDRESS.  215 

The  manuscript  of  Professor  Stowe's  intended  speech, 
upon  the  character  of  Dr.  Murdock,  is  in  these  words : 

Dr.  James  Murdock  was  a  little  dry  man  with  a  large  elas- 
tic brain,  and  nerves  like  cat-gut.     His  physical  idiosyncracies 

with  the  history  of  that  Church,  says :  Dr.  Griffin,  who  had  been  pastor 
successively  at  New  Hartford,  Ct.  (from  1 795  to  1801),  and  at  Newark,  N.  J. 
(180]  to  1809),  had  a  high  reputation  for  vigorous  and  soul-stirring  eloquence, 
and  his  preaching  had  been  attended  with  remarkable  displays  of  divine 
grace  in  the  conversion  of  sinners.  He  came  to  Andover  as  Bartlet  Profes- 
sor, of  Sacred  Rhetoric,  in  the  year  1809,  with  the  understanding  that  he 
would  also  be  the  stated  preacher  at  Park  Street.  It  was  the  prospect  of  his 
greater  usefulness  in  these  two  fields  of  labor,  that  induced  his  Presbytery 
and  church  to  consent  to  his  removal  from  Newark.  A  call  was  given  to 
him  to  take  alone  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  new  church,  which  he  saw  fit  to 
decline.  The  call  was  renewed  February  1,  1811;  he  accepted  the  call 
May  1,  and  was  installed  July  31,  1811.  He  preached  the  sermon  from 
2  Chron.  6  :  18,  at  the  dedication  of  the  meeting-house,  January  10, 1810,  from 
which  time  he  was  the  stated  preacher  there,  and  he  continued  to  preach 
there  till  May  28,  1815.  His  ministry  at  Park  Street,  therefore,  extended 
over  a  term  of  five  years  and  five  months.  During  this  period,  this  eminent 
man  did  the  great  work  of  his  life.  We  may  not  measure  his  usefulness  here 
by  the  number  of  conversions  under  his  ministry.  During  his  ministry  at 
Park  Street,  fifty-nine  persons  were  added  to  the  church  by  profession. 
During  the  great  revival  at  Newark  under  his  labors,  in  the  autumn  and 
winter  of  1807,  it  was  supposed  that  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  persons 
passed  from  death  unto  life.  During  his  Presidency  at  Williams  College,  a 
period  of  fifteen  years,  several  powerful  revivals  occurred.  The  immediate 
results  at  Park  Street,  therefore,  were  far  less  obvious  and  striking.  I  well 
remember  the  feeling  of  discouragement  which  seemed  to  oppress  him  and 
his  church,  at  the  close  of  his  ministry  here,  in  the  spring  of  1815.  It  was 
indicated  on  his  part,  by  the  selection  of  texts  like  these  —  "  By  whom  shall 
Jacob  arise  ?  for  he  is  small."  "  They  that  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy." 
etc.  "  But  they  made  light  of  it,"  etc.  "  How  shall  I  give  thee  up,  Eph- 
raim  ?  "  etc.  "  Where  is  the  Lord  God  of  Elijah  ?  "  "  If  he  thus  say,  I 
have  no  delight  in  thee,"  etc.  "  All  these  things  are  against  me."  His  last 
sermons,  May  28,  1815,  were  from  Luke  24  :  50,  51,  on  Christ's  blessing  his 


216  ].»  11  0  F .    S  T  0  W  E '  S     ADDRESS. 

had  a  marked  influence  on  his  whole  development,  intellectual 
and  moral ;  to  his  physique  we  owe  his  indomitable  persever- 


disciples  at  Bethany,  just  before  his  ascension  ;  and  from  Gen.  8  :  8,  9,  on  the 
return  of  the  dove  to  the  ark,  having  found  no  rest  elsewhere.  They  were 
highly  appropriate  to  the  occasion,  though  there  was  no  formal  farewell. 

Sad  to  me,  though  but  a  child,  was  that  parting,  when  I  should  see  that 
majestic  form  in  the  pulpit,  and  hear  those  mellifluous  tones;  no  more.  It  was 
felt  to  be  a  dark  day  at  Park  'Street.  The  whole  enterprise  seemed  to  have 
well  nigh  failed.  The  church  contained,  at  his  leaving  Boston,  only  one 
hundred  and  twenty-six  members,  of  whom  sixty-four  were  from  other 
churches  ;  the  congregation  was  not  large ;  the  society  was  heavily  burdened 
with  debt ;  and  the  community  in  general  regarded  the  enterprise  with  great 
disesteem.  Who  should,  who  could,  take  Dr.  Griffin's  place  ?  Who  would 
be  the  instrument,  in  the  hands  of  God.  of  relieving  Park  Street  Church  of 
its  embarrassments  ? 

I  remember  to  have  heard  Rev.  Mr.  Dwight,  Dr.  Griffin's  successor,  say,  in 
a  public  discourse,  that  Dr.  Griffin's  ministry  seemed  to  have  been  successful 
everywhere  but  at  Park  Street ! 

So  incapable  are  even  wise  men,  sometimes,  of  forming  a  correct  judgment 
of  the  results  of  their  own,  or  of  other  people's  labors. 

It  cannot  be  doubted,  however,  at  this  distance  of  time,  that  Dr.  Griffin's 
labors  stood  connected  with  results  of  the  highest  moment  to  the  cause  of 
Christ  in  Boston,  and  through  our  land  and  world.  It  was  his  preaching, 
which,  by  God's  blessing,  broke  up  that  deep  spiritual  lethargy,  that  sleep  of 
death,  into  which  the  religious  community  had  fallen,  and  which  continued 
during  nearly  seventy  years.  His  preaching  was  the  necessary,  the  indis- 
pensable preparation  for  the  resuscitation,  advance,  and  triumph  of  evangel- 
ical religion  in  this  city  and  vicinity.  It  was  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the 
wilderness,  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord."  It  was  like  the  trump  of  the 
archangel,  arousing  the  dead  from  their  graves.  This  was,  I  have  no  doubt, 
the  great  work  which  God  raised  him  up  to  do ;  and  which  could  scarcely 
have  been  done  by  any  other  living  man.  It  was  a  very  important  work ; 
reaching  out  in  its  influence  all  over  New  England  and  our  whole  country  ; 
and  tending  most  eminently  to  the  conversion  of  the  world  to  Christ.  This 
work  he  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  do.  To  this  work,  all  his  previous  successes 
in  the  ministry  had  been  only  the  necessary  training.  This  work  lie  did  ; 
and  did  thoroughly  and  effectually  ;  and  did  for  all  time.  As  soon  as  it  was 


PROF.  STOWE'S  ADDRESS.  217 

ance,  his  accurate  and  many-sided  learning,  and  his  old  age 
of  untiring  acquisition.  The  way  he  took  hold  of  a  subject 

done,  there  was  no  more  for  him  to  do  in  Boston.  I  repeat  it  —  what  he  did 
here  was  the  great  work  of  his  life. 

1  will  not  attempt  minutely  to  describe  his  preaching.  Any  attempt  to  do 
it  would  fall  far  below  the  reality.  His  figure  was  commanding ;  his  port 
majestic ;  his  voice  smooth,  silvery,  flexible,  yet  sonorous,  far-reaching,  filling 
without  effort  every  part  of  that  vast  audience-room,  whose  ceiling  rose  fifty 
feet  above  the  floor  ;  his  manner  deeply  impressive  ;  his  style  clear,  massive, 
impassioned,  and  energetic,  often  rising  to  the  highest  efforts  of  the  imagi- 
nation. His  eloquence  was  preeminently  the  eloquence  of  thought ;  of  actual 
verities,  seen  by  the  eye  of  faith,  through  the  glass  of  the  Divine  Word.  He 
seemed  to  live,  and  move,  and  have  his  being,  among  eternal  realities.  He 
brought  them  very  near  to  his  hearers  ;  within  the  circle  of  their  own  vision. 
The  effect  was  often  irresistible.  Many,  attracted  by  his  surpassing  powers 
of  oratory,  came  to  hear  him,  even  from  the  ranks  of  error,  worldliness,  and 
sin ;  and,  not  unfrequently,  some  "  who  came  to  scoff,  remained  to  pray." 
Many  from  other  towns  received  saving  impressions  from  his  preaching.  The 
blessed  influence  reached  even  to  distant  places.  The  leaven  spread  silently 
and  gradually  all  through  New  England. 

Dr.  Griffin  has  been  called,  and  I  think  justly,  the  Prince  of  Preachers.  I 
am  sure  that  in  pulpit  oratory,  I  never  heard  his  equal.  He  used  little  gest- 
ure ;  but  that  was  appropriate  and  effective.  Compared  with  much  that  is 
called  eloquence  and  fine  speaking,  his  sermons  were  as  the  unclouded  sun 
to  a  taper  at  midday ;  or  as  the  veritable  thunder  and  lightning  to  the  poor 
imitations  thereof  in  the  theatre.  Contrary  to  the  well-known  fact  in  regard 
to  Whitefield,  and  some  other  renowned  preachers,  Dr.  Griffin's  sermons  read 
well.  His  "  Park  Street  Lectures,"  are  a  classic  in  theology.  They  have 
passed  through  several  editions  ;  and  are  read  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 
For  clearness  of  statement,  force  of  reasoning,  and  array  of  Scriptural  evi- 
dence, they  have  never  been  surpassed;  perhaps  never  matched.  No 
answer  to  them  has  ever  appeared  ;  indeed,  we  cannot  imagine  what  shape 
a  fit  answer  could  assume.  They  must  not,  however,  be  taken  as  a  specimen 
of  Dr.  Griffin's  ordinary  pulpit  labors.  His  discourses  from  week  to  week 
were  much  less  elaborate  and  argumentative. 

It  has  been  thought  by  some  that  there  was  an  air  of  stearness  and 
severity  in  Dr.  Griffin's  preaching ;  and  his  "  Park  Street  Lectures "  have 

28 


218  PROF.  STOWE'S   ADDRESS. 

was  just  like  himself — a  short, nipping  hold, but  a  prodigiously 
strong  one ;  and  he  never  let  anything  go  till  he  had  got  out 
of  it  all  there  was  in  it.  It  was  amusing  to  notice  the  differ- 

been  appealed  to  as  evidence  of  the  fact.  There  is  probably  some  foundation 
for  this  idea.  Dr.  Griffin  was  a  Boanerges,  a  "  son  of  thunder,"  to  the  care- 
less and  unbelieving.  It  was  one  great  purpose  of  his  preaching  to  arouse 
the  unthinking  to  a  deep  sense  of  their  danger ;  to  make  the  sinner  feel  his 
guilt ;  to  press  home  on  the  conscience  the  claims  of  the  divine  law ;  and  to 
urge  the  delaying  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.  He  was  solemnly  and 
deeply  in  earnest ;  he  saw  Sinai  flash,  and  heard  its  thunders  roll ;  and  by 
"  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,"  he  sought  to  persuade  men.  He  could  do  no 
otherwise.  He  believed ;  therefore  he  spake.  Thanks  be  to  God  that  he 
did  so. 

Dr.  Griffin's  preaching  had  more  severity  in  it,  doubtless,  than  most  of  the 
sermons  which  we  now  hear.  This  arose  in  part  from  his  compact,  terse,  en- 
ergetic style.  His  sentences  were  short,  and  to  the  point.  From  his  very 
soul  he  abhorred  circumlocution  and  diffuseness.  When  he  had  anything  to 
say  —  and  he  always  had  —  Tie  said  it.  He  said  it  in  earnest,  telling  words. 
There  was  no  faltering,  or  apologizing,  or  shrinking.  There  were  few 
parenthetical  clauses,  or  qualifying  expressions.  You  never  got  lost  in  a 
tangled  wilderness  of  words,  when  listening  to  him.  He  made  straight  paths 
for  your  feet,  and  you  never  wondered  where  he  had  been  conducting  you. 
You  never  were  at  a  loss  to  know  what  he  had  been  saying.  No  intelligent 
man,  it  is  presumed,  ever  failed  to  remember  the  leading  points  of  his  dis- 
course, or  to  feel  their  impression. 

But  to  suppose  that  Dr.  Griffin  was  harsh,  unfeeling,  or  repulsive  in  the 
pulpit,  is  a  great  mistake.  Perhaps  he  was  not  sufficiently  winning  and 
bland  in  his  manner.  Perhaps  he  failed  adequately  to  sympathize  with  the 
common  mind.  Perhaps  he  did  not  make  allowance  enough  for  the  weak- 
nesses and  frailties  of  our  poor  fallen  nature.  But  the  austerity  of  his  natural 
temperament  had  been  softened  and  subdued  by  divine  grace.  He  was  of 
a  mild  and  gentle  spirit.  Even  at  this  lapse  of  time,  I  remember  his  tender 
entreaties  with  the  sinner ;  I  remember  how  he  urged  the  sinner  to  go  at 
once  to  the  Redeemer,  and  be  saved.  I  remember  his  sermons  on  the  brazen 
serpent,  on  Moses'  invitation  to  Hobab,  on  the  blind  men  that  were  healed 
near  Jericho,  and  on  the  text  —  "  and  yet  there  is  room."  Dr.  Griffin  cer- 
tainly was  not  a  "  popular  preacher,"  as  the  phrase  is  commonly  used.  He 


PROF.  STOWE'S   ADDRESS.  210 

ence  in  this  respect  between  him  and  Professor  Stuart.  If  I 
might  be  permitted  to  follow  the  Bible  fashion  of  illustrative 
figures,  and  take  similitudes  where  the  resemblance  is  only  in 
a  single  point,  and  that  a  very  strong  one,  and  chosen  with 
reference  to  expressiveness,  rather  than  elegance,  I  should 
say,  that  Professor  Stuart's  hold  of  a  subject  was  like  the 
hug  of  a  bear,  rolling  and  crushing  in  its  grasp ;  while  Dr. 
Murdock's  was  more  like  the  pounce  of  a  hawk,  with  beak 
and  talon,  piercing  and  severing  and  comminuting. 

He  would  know  everything  about  a  subject,  and  he  would 
know  it  accurately  to  the  minutest  particular.  Perfectly  at 
home  with  dagheshes  and  shevas  and  Greek  accents  and 
Latin  quantities  ;  yet  these  with  him  were  not  an  end,  but 
only  the  means  of,  with  certainty,  attaining  the  end.  His 
learning  was  not,  as  Burke  described  London,  "the  mere 
addition  of  littleness  to  littleness  over  a  great  surface  ; "  but 
the  littlenesses  were  the  cobblestones  with  which  he  filled  in 
and  propped  up  and  made  firm  the  massive  structure  of  his 
erudition. 

He  had  an  intense  love  of  books,  a  real  affection,  I  may 
almost  say,  an  ardent  passion  for  them.  Every  volume  in  his 
large  library  was  an  individual,  a  person  to  him ;  it  had  a 
history;  no  duplicate  could  supply  its  place  ;  its  very  binding 

was  immensely  more.  He  did  not  cultivate  the  arts  of  popularity.  He  was 
far  above  it ;  he  moved  in  a  higher  and  purer  sphere. 

It  is  said  that  near  the  close  of  Dr.  Griffin's  ministry  in  Boston,  Daniel 
Webster,  who  had  just  removed  thither  from  Portsmouth,  went  to  hear  him. 
As  the  audience  were  retiring,  Mr.  "Webster  heard  one  of  his  acquaintances 
finding  fault  with  what  had  been  said.  "  Why,"  said  Mr.  Webster,  "  if  you 
are  going  the  same  way  with  the  lightning,  it  won't  hurt  you  ;  but  if  not,  you 
had  better  keep  out  of  its  toay." 

Dr.  Griffin  preached,  in  my  hearing,  a  series  of  thirteen  discourses  on  the 
Abrahamic  Covenant,  in  the  winter  and  spring  of  1814  ;  and  another  series 
of  eight  discourses,  the  following  winter,  on  Selfishness,  the  Chief  Boot  of 
Sin  ;  which,  if  printed,  would  be  a  valuable  contribution  to  our  theological 
literature. 


220  PROF.  STOWE'S  ADDRESS. 

and  lettering  and  embossing  were  as  minutely  observed,  and 
as  accurately  remembered  by  him  as  the  great  truths  it  might 
contain.     Nothing  gave  him  more  pleasure  than  to  have  the 
students  in  his  study,  and  there  get  them  to  look  at,  and 
handle,  and  feel  of,  the  beloved  volumes  to  which  he  had  re- 
ferred in  his  lectures  ;  and  he  would  tell  the  story  of  each  one, 
where  it  came  from,  and  how  he  got  possession  of  it,  with  all 
the  ardor  of  a  young  lover  giving  a  confidential  narrative  of 
his  first  courtship.     There  is  a  great  difference  among  literary 
men  on  this  point.     Professor  Stuart  was  an  insatiable  lover 
of  learning,  a  voracious  devourer  of  the  contents  of  books  ; 
but  he  had  no  care  for  a  book  as  an  individual,  no  love  for  it 
as  a  person.     When  he  had  mastered  all  that  a  volume  con- 
tained, he  no  longer  cared  for  that  particular  volume ;  it  was 
no  more  to  him  than  was  the  shell  after  he  had  eaten  the 
nut.     Hence,  with  all  his  rare  attainments  and  genuine  love 
of  literature,  he  never  was  the  owner  of  many  books,  and 
what  few  he  had  were  usually  very  much  out  at  elbows,  for 
the  way  he  would  beat  and  bang  them  about,  in  the  ardor  of 
his  discussions,  was  an  astonishment  to  the  uninitiated.  Even 
the  Bible  and  Greek  Testament  on  his  lecture  table,  had  hard 
usage,  and  scarcely  lasted  longer  than  a  French  soldier  in  a 
Russian  campaign. 

Just  the  reverse  in  this  respect  was  Dr.  Murdock.  He  loved 
to  accumulate  books,  to  own  them,  to  take  a  tender  care  of 
them  ;  and  he  never  willingly  parted  with  a  volume  which  he 
had  once  possessed ;  and  when  his  shelves  were  full,  he  would 
push  the  old  books  back  and  set  up  a  row  of  new  ones  in 
front  of  them,  and  his  cases  were  purposely  constructed  for 
such  an  emergency.  Every  book  was  to  him  as  a  daughter, 
of  whose  person,  and  dress,  and  ornaments,  he  was  fastidi- 
ously careful.  The  quiet  delight  with  which,  in  his  solitary 
old  age,  he  would  sit  in  his  library  and  look  round  on  his 
books,  will  never  be  forgotten  by  any  one  who  has  once  ap- 
preciatingly  witnessed  it. 

Mild,  and  gentle,  and  undemonstrative  in  his  enthusiasm, 


PROF.  STOWE'S   ADDRESS.  221 

he  never  could  excite  the  interest  in  the  lecture-room  that 
Professor  Stuart  did.  Dr.  Murdock  would  put,  piece  by  piece, 
into  the  hands  of  his  students,  the  finished  coin  all  nicely 
stamped  and  milled  and  burnished;  while  Professor  Stuart 
would  be  tossing  at  their  heads  great  nuggets  of  the  un- 
wrought  metal  with  the  earth  and  slag  still  adhering  to  them. 

Dr.  Murdock's  relish  for  study,  his  capability  of  enjoyment 
in  it,  continued,  without  interruption  or  abatement,  to  the  very 
close  of  his  long  life.  After  he  was  seventy  years  of  age  he 
took  hold  of  the  Syriac  language,  and  so  perfected  himself  in 
it,  that  at  the  age  of  seventy-three,  he  had  completed  an  ad- 
mirable English  translation  of  the  Syriac  Testament.  Hav- 
ing finished  this  task,  he  then,  with  all  the  ardor  of  youth, 
pursued  the  study  of  Arabic.  The  winter  of  1852-3  he  spent 
at  Andover,  writing  twelve  or  fourteen  hours  every  day,  ap- 
parently without  fatigue  or  failure  of  sight,  and  always  out 
for  his  morning  walk,  over  our  boisterous  hills,  before  it  was 
fairly  daylight.  Walking  with  him  one  cold  icy  morning,  he 
expressed  to  me  his  sorrow  that  he  had  never  been  able  to 
obtain  a  copy  of  Buxtorf 's  Talmudic  and  Rabbinic  Lexicon ; 
and  when  I  told  him  I  knew  of  two  copies  for  sale  in  a  garret 
in  Boston,  he  just  danced  on  the  ice  for  joy. 

His  writings  are  all  of  permanent  value;  clear,  full,  and  ac- 
curate. There  is  now  no  work  on  church  history  which  con- 
tains so  much  of  information  in  so  small  a  compass  as  his 
edition  of  Mosheim.  This  great  German  scholar  and 
preacher  had  constructed  for  the  several  centuries  of  ecclesias- 
tical story  a  series  of  very  nice,  compact  cages,  and  Dr.  Mur- 
dock's notes  have  filled  them  with  live  birds.  It  is  a  pity 
that  he  did  not  give  us  Muenscher's  larger  Dogmatic  History 
on  the  same  plan,  as  he  once  intended.  No  man  ever  lived 
who  was  better  capable  of  doing  such  a  work.  His  Mosheim 
and  his  English  Testament  from  the  Syriac  are  his  great 
works,  and  for  these  he  will  be  long  known  and  honored. 

Like  all  the  great  and  good  men  whom  we  remember  to- 
day ;  like  all  the  great  and  good  men  who  have  ever  lived  on 


222  DR.  SEARS' s   ADDRESS. 

earth,  Dr.  Murdock  had  his  faults  and  defects.  A  great  man's 
failings  are  generally  as  strong  and  as  characteristic  as  his 
excellencies  ;  and  so  it  was  with  him.  But  this  is  not  the 
time  or  the  place  to  speak  of  his  faults.  It  is  enough  that  we 
censure  the  living.  Let  us  deal  gently  with  the  dead,  and 
then,  perhaps,  when  we  are  dead,  others  will  deal  gently  with 
us.  Doubtless,  we  shall  need  their  charity,  if  there  is  any- 
thing about  us  sufficiently  marked  to  cause  us  to  be  remem- 
bered at  all. 

Dr.  Sears,  has  favored  us  with  the  following  notes  of 
the  tribute  to  Professor  Edwards,  which  was  expected 
from  him,  had  he  been  able  to  attend  the  Celebration. 

Mr.  President:  It  is  with  pleasure  not  unmingled  with 
sadness,  that  I  obey  your  call  to  speak  a  word,  however  im- 
perfect, of  one  whose  memory  is  so  sacredly  cherished  by  us 
all.  Who,  of  those  that  knew  him,  could  stand  in  this  place, 
and  before  this  assembly  of  Christian  scholars,  without  being 
reminded  of  him,  and  even  seeing  him  in  imagination  ?  With 
his  many  friends,  I  fully  sympathize  in  all  that  rush  of  tender 
emotion  which  his  very  name  brings  with  it.  So  much  is  he, 
who  was  once  the  most  intimate  of  my  literary  friends,  still 
in  my  thought,  that  he  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  lost  to  me. 
How  blessed  would  be  the  memory  of  the  past,  if  it  could  be 
filled  only  with  such  images  ?  I  see  before  me  that  form  so 
indicative  of  the  spirit  that  animated  it,  that  mild,  expressive 
eye,  that  countenance  where  gentle  smiles  were  but  half  sub- 
dued by  an  air  of  thoughtfulness.  How  delightful  was  his 
quiet  tone  of  conversation,  when  he  opened  his  mind  and 
heart,  and,  all  unconsciously,  exposed  their  treasures  to  your 
view !  What  high  qualities  of  intellect  and  soul  were  then 
revealed  ;  what  stores  of  knowledge  on  all  subjects  of  human 
interest ;  what  genuine  sympathy  with  everything  that  was 
pure  and  good  !  In  his  mind,  you  at  one  moment  meet  with 


DR.    SEARS'S    ADDRESS.  223 

a  youthful  ardor  and  enthusiasm  that  takes  you  by  surprise  ; 
at  another,  with  a  breadth  and  maturity  of  thought  which 
imply  a  life  of  study  and  reflection.  In  one  respect,  he 
seemed  to  be  near  the  beginning  of  his  literary  career;  in 
another,  near  its  end.  This  love  of  knowledge  and  intense 
desire  for  new  acquisition  continued  with  him  to  the  last. 
His  early  love  of  statistics  was  not  sensibly  abated.  His 
antiquarian  passion  rather  increased  than  diminished.  The 
Greek  language  was  still  his  delight,  whether  in  the  classic 
dialogues  of  Plato,  or  in  its  Hebraistic  idioms.  He  studied 
with  vigor  and  success,  some  of  the  oriental  languages,  at  a 
period  of  life  when,  with  most  men  curiosity  begins  to  abate, 
and  literary  ambition  to  subside.  Though  early  acquainted 
with  the  modern  languages,  his  intimacy  with  those  which 
he  had  most  occasion  to  use  was  of  later  date.  Certainly 
the  instances  are  rare  in  which  so  much  solid  acquisition  in 
languages,  both  ancient  and  modem,  has  been  made  after 
reaching  the  age  of  maturity.  His  knowledge  of  biblical 
literature,  and  of  the  best  authors  in  his  own  language,  and 
of  practical  subjects  in  general,  is  too  well  known  to  need  a 
comment.  In  making  all  these  acquisitions,  he  uniformly 
exhibited  something  higher  and  nobler  that  the  common  am- 
bition of  the  scholar.  It  was  a  religious  conviction  with  him 
that  the  Christian  intellect  should  master  all  the  departments 
of  knowledge,  and  that,  in  his  studies,  he  was  only  meeting 
the  demands  which  Providence  was  making  upon  him. 

But  it  is  as  a  noble  character,  perhaps  even  more  than  as 
an  eminent  scholar,  that  he  lives  and  will  always  live  in  our 
memory.  His  character  was  many-sided,  was  generic,  so  to 
speak.  In  him,  as  we  have  seen,  were  represented  the  enthu- 
siastic youth,  arid  the  sober-minded  man  of  experience  ;  the 
man  of  studious  habits,  the  ca.reful  and  close  observer  of  what 
is  done  in  the  wide  world;  the  Puritan  scholar  and  theologian; 
and  the  true  man  of  progress.  While  he  had  a  just  reverence 
for  the  past,  he  sincerely  believed  in  a  greater  and  better 
future.  He  knew  how  to  appreciate  the  peculiar  virtues  of 


224  PROF.  BROWN'S  ADDRESS. 

those  with  whom  he  was  ecclesiastically  associated,  but  could 
recognize,  just  as  well,  whatever  was  excellent  in  others. 
Such  were  the  truthfulness  of  his  nature,  his  candor,  and  his 
magnanimity,  that  no  one  who  knew  him  could  withhold  his 
admiration.  But  what  we  value  most  was  his  Christian 
spirit,  in  which,  as  an  all-surrounding  atmosphere,  his  other 
excellent  qualities  lived  and  moved  and  had  their  being. 

His  numerous  friends  and  pupils  will  carry  his  image  in  their 
minds  as  long  as  they  live.  A  richer  legacy  than  the  charac- 
ter of  such  a  man  could  hardly  be  made  to  any  Theological 
Seminary.  In  this  respect  his  name  may  justly  have  a  place 
among  the  most  honored  of  those  that  have  adorned  this  seat 
of  sacred  learning.  God  be  thanked  for  such  a  gift,  —  for 
the  life  and  memory  of  one  so  evidently  dear  to  Him  whose 
own  perfect  character  and  example  are  the  light  and  joy  of 
the  whole  earth. 


The  address  which  Professor  Brown  was  prepared  to 
make,  in  commemoration  of  Professor  Edwards,  has 
been  furnished  for  the  Memorial  and  is  here  subjoined. 

Mr.  President :  It  is  with  the  most  unfeigned  reluctance 
that  I  rise  to  say  one  word,  after  listening  with  so  much  plea- 
sure to  the  careful  and  elaborate  delineations  of  the  lives  and 
characters  of  our  departed  instructors  and  friends.  What 
task  is  more  difficult  than  to  portray  character  without  exag- 
geration or  injustice,  even  when  the  features  are  bold  and 
decisive,  much  more  when  the  characteristics  are  subtle  and 
delicate,  and  blend  beautifully  together,  light  and  shade  melt- 
ing into  each  other  with  exquisite  gradations  beyond  the 
reach  of  art  ?  But  I  pretend  to  no  such  effort,  and  it  is  need- 
less. I  respond  at  all  only  because  those  are  absent  from 
whom  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Professor  Edwards  was 
expected,  and  would  most  properly  come,  and  because,  by 
keeping  silence,  I  should  almost  seem  recreant  to  all  the  vir- 


PROF.  BROWN'S  ADDRESS.  225 

tues,  to  reverence,  and  friendship,  and  love,  to  everything 
noble  and  good. 

It  requires  no  words  to  bring  before  you  that  noble  counte- 
nance, that  dome  of  thought,  that  pleasant  smile,  that  intro- 
verted eye,  that  modest,  unobtrusive  demeanor.  I  follow  him 
now  in  his  thoughtful  walks  along  these  paths ;  I  see  him  in 
the  room  where  he  was  accustomed  to  lecture,  in  the  pulpit 
where  he  preached,  in  the  alcove  of  the  library  which  he  so 
often  frequented.  Everywhere  the  same,  diligent,  untiring, 
quiet,  faithful,  honest,  true  to  every  high  purpose  as  the 
needle  to  the  star.  I  am  not  sure  but  his  modesty  and  hu- 
mility would  be  the  first  trait  which  a  stranger  would  notice. 
He  had  a  large  share  of  reverence.  In  a  letter  from  Edin- 
burgh, which  I  at  this  instant  recall,  he  spoke  with  a  delight- 
ful mingling  of  the  reverential  with  that  quiet  humor  which 
was  equally  a  characteristic,  of  his  sitting  with  inexpressible 
satisfaction  among  the  "  four  and  twenty  elders."  under  the 
pulpit  of  Dr.  Guthrie,  hearing  that  eminent  preacher  dis- 
course "  most  ravishingly."  He  was  no  iconoclast ;  he  would 
not  make  his  mind  empty,  nor  the  world  bare  of  associations ; 
nor  believe  that  what  he  loved,  what  his  affections  and  his 
taste  alike  clung  to,  was  therefore  an  idol  to  be  shunned  or 
destroyed. 

The  feminine  and  delicate  were  largely  developed  in  his 
mind.  Sensitive  himself,  he  was  especially  careful  about 
wounding  the  feelings  of  others,  and  though  firmly  holding 
his  own  opinions,  he  so  stated  them  as  not  to  provoke  oppo- 
sition, but  rather  to  win  assent.  Attending  these  traits  was 
another,  which  would  not  be  so  readily  noticed, — an  unyielding 
resolution  and  energy,  none  the  less  real  because  attested  by 
actions  rather  than  words.  Whatever  he  undertook,  he  was 
very  apt  to  carry  to  a  successful  issue ;  or  if  he  failed,  it  was 
not  for  want  of  labor,  or  of  any  elements  of  success  which 
he  could  command.  The  softer  traits  of  character  never 
dwindled  into  effeminacy  or  unmanly  weakness.  He  was 
borne  aloft,  by  the  wings  of  an  ever  aspiring  intellect,  to  a 

29 


226  PROF.  BROWN'S  ADDRESS. 

communion  with  whatever  was  most  noble,  strong  and  pure. 
Few  scholars,  few  men,  have  had  greater  breadth  of  sympa- 
thy. How  large  and  liberal  his  acquisitions  and  aims !  The 
whole  circle  of  sciences  and  of  arts  came  within  the  scope  of 
his  interest.  So  destitute  was  he  of  anything  like  jealousy, 
that  I  do  not  believe  he  could  very  well  understand  what 
it  is.  He  sympathized  with  achievements  in  departments  to 
the  knowledge  of  which  he  laid  no  claim,  and  which  might 
seem  entirely  below  or  beside  his  tastes  and  pursuits.  I  know 
not  where,  in  the  history  of  letters,  we  can  find  a  more  perfect 
example  of  a  catholic  student.  He  was  devoted  to  learning, 
and,  in  the  thoroughness  and  liberality  of  his  acquisitions,  was 
a  worthy  companion  of  that  pioneer  of  Biblical  literature  in 
this  country,  of  whom  we  have  this  day  heard  the  grateful 
recollection  of  eminent  men.  And  his  plans,  to  the  last, 
were  ever  forming  and  shaping  themselves  for  larger  attain- 
ments, for  ampler  and  more  satisfactory  results.  The  spirit  of 
his  study  was  the  purest,  the  noblest,  the  most  disinterested; 
that  he  might  comprehend  more  perfectly  the  ways  and  works 
of  God,  illustrate  his  Word  more  adequately,  and  with  freer 
scope,  and  understand  his  character,  —  the  archetype  of  all 
that  is  beautiful  and  true  and  good.  One  strong  wish,  never  to 
be  gratified,  pervaded  his  later  years.  In  order  that  he  might, 
with  a  more  vivid  sense  of  the  reality,  illustrate  the  history  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  that  he  might  be  the  more 
thoroughly  furnished  for  a  labor  to  which  he  looked  forward 
with  hope  and  joy,  and  for  which  he  was  by  temperament 
and  study,  so  abundantly  fitted — I  mean  writing  a  commen- 
tary upon  the  Psalms — he  longed  with  an  irrepressible  de- 
sire,—  a  desire  which  yielded  only  to  the  direst  necessity — to 
look  once  upon  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  once 
to  stand  upon 

" those  holy  fields, 


Over  whose  acres  walked  those  blessed  feet, 
Which  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  were  nail'd, 
For  our  advantage,  on  the  bitter  cross." 


PROF.   PARK'S  ADDRESS.  227 

The  hills  of  Palestine  —  the  glades  of  Florida;  a  Christian 
student  gathering  up  the  fruit  of  his  labor,  rounding  and 
completing  his  studies  that  he  might  present  a  better  and 
more  acceptable  offering  to  the  church  which  he  served ;  a 
worn  out  and  weary  invalid  seeking  a  little  respite  under 
Southern  skies  —  these  were  the  contrasts  on  which  he  was 
obliged  to  look ;  and  who  can  tell  the  sorrow  with  which  he 
felt  compelled  to  accept  for  himself  the  latter.  None  who 
were  not  intimate  with  him  conjectured  the  trial ;  his  own 
heart  alone  knew  its  full  bitterness. 

I  know  but  too  well  how  inadequate  and  insufficient  these 
remarks  must  seem  ;  let  your  recollections  fill  up  and  complete 
the  picture.  Never  will  his  memory  fade  from  the  minds  of 
those  who  knew  him.  In  our  heart  of  hearts  it  will  always 
be  fresh,  and  green,  and  fragrant,  till  we,  too,  God  willing, 
God  helping,  shall  walk  with  him  over  plains  better  than 
those  of  Palestine,  with 

those  just  spirits  that  wear  victorious  palms, 


Hymns  devout  and  holy  psalms, 
Singing  everlastingly. 


After  the  lively  reminiscences  of  Dr.  Pearson,  with 
which  Eev.  Mr.  Waldo  had  entertained  the  Alumni,  and 
after  the  very  frequent  and  grateful  allusions  which 
others  of  the  speakers  had  made  to  him,  Professor  Park 
was  not  called  upon  to  speak  of  him,  as  he  had  been 
expected  to  do.  He  has,  however,  furnished  for  our 
use  an  outline  of  his  intended  tribute,  which  we  here 
insert. 

Mr.  President :  It  has  been  many  times  repeated,  during 
the  exercises  of  this  week,  that  our  revered  Seminary  owes  its 
existence  to  a  spirit  of  compromise  between  two  theological 
parties,  each  of  which  had  been  planning  the  establishment 
of  a  Theological  Seminary  for  itself.  One  of  these  parties 


228  PROF.  PARK'S  ADDRESS. 

intended  to  found  an  Institution  for  training  thorough,  direct, 
plain,  pungent,  argumentative,  doctrinal  preachers,  and  for 
maintaining  that  definite  and  strict  form  of  Calvinism  which 
is  commonly  named  Hopkinsian.  The  other  party  intended 
to  found  an  Institution  "  for  increasing  the  number  of  learned 
and  able  defenders  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  as  well  as  of 
orthodox,  pious,  and  zealous,  ministers  of  the  New  Testament," 
and  for  inculcating  that  milder  form  of  Calvinism,  which 
united  in  its  defence  the  disciples  of  such  men  as  President 
Stiles,  of  New  Haven ;  Dr.  Hopkins,  of  Hadley  ;  Dr.  Lathrop, 
of  West  Springfield,  and  Dr.  Tappan,  of  Cambridge, — men  re- 
garded, at  that  time,  as  representatives  of  those  New  England 
Congregationalists  who  repudiated  the  Hopkinsian  peculiari- 
ties, and  yet  retained  the  substance  of  the  Calvinistic  creed. 
There  were  two  clergymen  especially  prominent  in  these 
two  theological  parties,  and  actively  engaged  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  two  Theological  Seminaries,  who  deserve  to  be 
signally  honored  among  the  reminiscences  of  this  scene. 
They  were  men  so  different  from  each  other  in  their  habits  of 
thought,  their  theological  tastes  and  predilections,  their  pro 
fessional  life  and  aims,  that  it  seemed  at  first,  as  it  proved  at 
last,  impossible  to  unite  them  in  any  enlarged  plan  of  theo- 
logical education. 

One  of  these  men  was  Nathanael  Emmons.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  Yale  College,  where  he  was  wont  to  dandle  on 
his  knee  Timothy  Dwight,  whom  he  called,  in  those  days,  "  a 
pretty  boy."  His  closest  friendships  had  been  with  divines 
who  breathed  the  spirit  of  his  Alma  Mater,  which  was  in 
many  respects  diverse  from  the  spirit  of  Harvard  College. 
He  was  a  man  of  books  and  of  independent  investigation ;  a 
severe  applicant  to  studies  distinctively  theological ;  a  mod- 
est, retiring  pastor  in  one  of  our  most  quiet,  rural  settle- 
ments. He  disliked  the  noise  and  bustle  of  the  world,  and 
was  about  as  far  as  any  one  from  being  a  "  man  of  affairs." 
He  was  definite  in  his  convictions,  precise  in  his  mode  of 


PROF.  PARK'S  ADDRESS.       229 

stating  them,  inflexible  in  his  adherence  to  them.     In  some 
points  he  was  the  ablest  representative  of  the  Hopkinsian 
school.     He  defended  its  principles,  as  a  logician ;  but  he  did 
not  manage  for  its  popularity,  as  a  diplomatist.    So  implicitly 
did  the  Hopkinsians  confide  in  him,  that  many  of  them  could 
not  be  satisfied  unless  their  proposed  Seminary  were  located 
in  his  own  parish.     At  one  time  it  was  not  only  the  desire, 
but  the  full  expectation  of  Dr.  Samuel  Spring,  to  see  the  new 
Seminary  in  the  still  retreat  of  Franklin,  where  it  would  be 
the  safest  and  the  strongest,  because  under  the  sharp,  quick  eye 
of  its  ablest  friend.    When  the  project  was  named  of  uniting 
the  Hopkinsian  Seminary  with  the  proposed  Institution  at 
Andover,  Dr.  Emmons  rose  up  against  it.     He  stood  out 
against  it,  until  he  supposed  that  he  had  defeated  it.     "  The 
Conference  closed,"  —  these  are  his  words  in  relation  to  a 
meeting  of  the  two  parties,  —  "  the  Conference  closed,  and  I 
rode  home,  fully  satisfied  that  the  Coalition  was  dead."     But 
by  various  processes,  which  it  is  needless  to  specify  here  and 
now,  the  Coalition  revived.     Dr.  Emmons,  however,  remained 
firm  in  the  conviction,  that  it  would  be  better  for  the  Hopkin- 
sians to  found  a  Seminary  for  themselves.     He  had  a  high 
esteem  for  many  of  the  gentlemen  interested  in  the  rival  Sem- 
inary at  Andover,  but  he  did  not  regard  them  as  sufficiently 
outspoken  and  bold  in  their  method  of  treating  the  doctrines 
of  decrees,  election,  divine  sovereignty,  the  union  of  human 
activity  and  dependence,  the  utter  and  entire  sinfulness  of  all 
voluntary  acts  preceding  the  new  birth.     He  looked  upon  the 
Constitution  which  those  gentlemen  had  adopted  for  the  basis 
of  their  new  Seminary  as  too  vague  and  indefinite ;  and  he 
insisted  that  there  must  be  a  Creed  more  exact  and  unequivo- 
cal, more  in  sympathy  with  the  views  of  the  elder  and  the 
younger  Edwards,  Hopkins  of   Newport,  and  Hopkins  of 
Salem,  Bellamy,  Smalley,  West,  Catlin  and  Spring.     He  re- 
fused to  meet  again  with  the  two  parties  in  the  Coalition,  but 
his  advice  was  freely  given  to  the  Hopkinsian  party,  who  re- 
gretted his  personal  absence  from  them.     They  framed  their 


230  PROF.  PARK'S  ADDRESS. 

definite  Creed,  under  his  fatherly  counsel.  Before  this  care- 
fully written  Creed  was  adopted,  every  word  of  it  was  placed 
again  and  again,  before  his  keen  eye.  Dr.  Spring,  of  New- 
buryport,  visited  the  Franklin  parsonage  repeatedly,  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  the  advice  of  Dr.  Emmons,  not  only 
with  regard  to  the  substance  and  the  form  of  this  Creed,  but 
also  with  regard  to  the  initiatory  processes  of  the  Seminary. 
It  was  thought  to  be  of  incalculable  importance,  that  the  Sem- 
inary begin  right.  There  was  reason  to  believe,  that  as  it  be- 
gan, so  it  would  continue.  Therefore  the  early  history  of  the 
Institution  received  many  an  imprint  from  the  Franklin 
divine. 

Nor  in  later  years  did  the  friends  of  the  Seminary  which 
had  sprung  from  the  "  Coalition,"  forget  to  ask  wisdom  from 
the  sage  who  had  opposed  the  compromise.  It  has  happened 
to  me,  recently,  to  peruse  two  epistles  which  illustrate  the  re- 
gard paid  to  this  modest  divine  by  the  first  Professors  of  the 
Seminary.  One  of  the  letters  is  from  Rev.  Dr.  Porter,  who 
was  wont  to  says  "  I  find  much  that  is  true  and  strong  in  the 
theology  of  Dr.  Emmons,  and  I  find  nothing  in  it  essentially 
diverse  from  the  teachings  of  all  our  best  theologians."  The 
letter  is  as  follows  : 

"  ANDOVER,  Dec.  3,  1827. 

"  REV.  AND  RESPECTED  SIR  :  Since  I  have  been  in  this 
place,  it  has  constantly  been  my  intention  to  visit  you  at 
your  own  house.  But  as  I  have  commonly  travelled  in  the 
stage,  I  have  hitherto  been  disappointed  in  fulfilling  this  in- 
tention, nor  can  I  say  when  I  may  be  able  to  do  it.  I  send 
the  accompanying  sermon  in  consequence  of  a  suggestion 
that  you  had  expressed  a  wish  to  see  it,  and  because  I  am 
glad  of  any  opportunity  to  show  you  even  so  small  a  token 
of  respect.  The  truth  is,  if  you  will  allow  me  to  say  it,  that 
I  have  long  regarded  you  as  a  father  in  our  Zion,  and  should, 
at  any  time,  have  felt  it  a  high  privilege  to  consult  you  res- 
pecting my  own  duties,  and  the  interests  of  our  sacred  Sem- 


PROF.  PARK'S  ADDRESS.  231 

inary.  After  this  frank  declaration,  allow  me  to  add,  that  any 
strictures  which  you  may  find  time  to  give  me  by  letter, 
respecting  this  sermon,  or  the  course  of  our  measures  here, 
will  be  gratefully  received. 

"  With  sincere  respect,  yours,  etc., 

"  E.  PORTER." 

The  other  epistle  is  from  Rev.  Dr.  Woods,  who  more  than 
once  remarked :  "  Dr.  Emmons  has  one  of  the  grandest  un- 
derstandings, ever  created  in  this  world."  The  letter  is  as 
follows : 

«  ANDOVER,  Aug.  9,  1830. 

"  REV.  AND  DEAR  SIR  :  I  send  you  herewith  a  copy  of  my 
Letters  to  Dr.  Taylor.  I  have,  for  some  time,  been  desirous  of 
knowing  what  you  think  of  his  peculiar  speculations.  And 
considering  how  much  you  have  thought  upon  such  subjects, 
I  should  be  much  gratified,  if  you  would  write  me  your  views 
with  freedom.  It  has  been  my  intention  to  visit  you,  and 
spend  a  few  days  with  you  some  vacation ;  and  I  hope  still 
to  enjoy  that  pleasure.  If  after  reading  my  Letters  to  Dr. 
Taylor,  you  are  led  to  apprehend  that  there  is  anything  wrong 
in  my  habit  of  thinking  and  reasoning,  I  shall  take  it  as  a 
favor,  if  you  will  tell  me. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  with  great  respect  and  affection,  yours, 

«  L.  WOODS." 

The  divine,  most  conspicuous  in  advocating  the  comprom- 
ise which  Dr.  Emmons  opposed,  was  Eliphalet  Pearson.  His 
early  habits  and  associations  were  less  clerical  and  less  homo- 
geneous, than  those  of  his  antagonist.  He  was  an  adept  in 
the  fine  arts.  He  had  a  musical  ear  and  voice,  an  architect's 
eye  and  forecast.  His  mind  was  vigorous,  acute,  compre- 
hensive. He  was  energetic  and  enterprising,  well  acquainted 
with  men  and  things.  He  had  been  from  early  manhood  a 
proficient  in  Hebrew  studies,  and  accustomed  to  read  both 


232       PROF.  PARK'S  ADDRESS. 

the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments  in  their  original  languages. 
But,  unlike  Dr.  Emmons,  he  loved  general  literature  more 
than  metaphysics,  and  was  hostile  rather  than  partial  to  con- 
troversial divinity  and  to  the  refinements  of  theological  spec- 
ulation. He  accepted  the  Calvinistic  faith  in  its  more  com- 
prehensive form,  but  did  not  receive  it  in  that  sharp  outline 
which  has  been  approved  by  the  Edwardean  school.  He  had 
not  been  intimate  with  the  more  eminent  divines  of  that 
school,  the  stricter  Calvinists  of  his  day,  but  had  associated 
mainly  with  the  men  of  letters  and  of  political  renown  who 
had  gone  forth  from  the  halls  of  Harvard,  and  with  the  more 
practical  clergymen  and  philanthropists  who  had  not  addicted 
themselves  to  the  niceties  of  theological  study.  He  had  been 
an  industrious  member,  and  also  the  Secretary  of  the  Amer- 
ican Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  For  twenty  years  he 
had  been  a  most  laborious  Professor  in  Harvard  College ;  for 
six  years  he  had  been  a  leading  member  of  its  Board  of  Fel- 
lows, and  for  a  long  time  had  performed  many  of  the  duties 
belonging  to  the  President  of  the  University.  Had  his  friend 
Judge  Phillips  been  alive,  Dr.  Pearson  would,  in  all  likeli- 
hood, have  been  elected  the  President  of  the  College,  as  suc- 
cessor to  Dr.  Joseph  Willard.  Among  the  pupils  of  Professor 
Pearson,  were  John  Quincy  Adams,  Judge  Cranch,  Dr. 
Thaddeus  Mason  Harris,  Judge  Putnam,  President  Kirkland, 
President  Quincy,  Professor  Hedge,  Professor  Popkin,  Judge 
Charles  Jackson,  Dr.  McKean,  James  Jackson,  M.  D.,  John 
Pickering,  Horace  Binney,  John  C.  Warren,  M.  D.,  Dr.  Wil- 
liam E.  Channing,  Mr.  Justice  Story,  Professor  Cleaveland, 
Washington  Allston,  Loammi  Baldwin,  Dr.  Edward  Payson, 
Professor  Andrews  Norton,  Jacob  Bigelow,  M.  D.,  Alexander 
H.  Everett,  and  many  other  scholars  eminent  in  widely  diver- 
sified spheres.  While  engaged  in  his  Professorship  at  Har- 
vard, he  occasionally  spent  the  entire  night  in  correcting  the 
compositions  of  the  students,  in  order  that  he  might  spend 
the  day  in  the  multiplied  extra-official  duties  which  were 
heaped  upon  him.  He  labored  with  rare  zeal  and  tact  for  the 


PROF.  PARK'S  ADDRESS.  233 

financial  as  well  as  literary  welfare  of  the  College.  He  thus 
became  intimate  with  men  of  wealth  and  pecuniary  enter- 
prise. He  exerted  a  marked  influence  over  the  Legislature 
of  the  State.  More  than  any  other  man,  he  had  searched 
the  documents  which  illustrated  the  claim  of  the  University 
to  certain  disputed  possessions;  had  examined  old  deeds  in 
the  Registry  of  Probate,  old  grants  and  charters  of  the  Gene- 
ral Court,  old  notes  pertaining  to  farms,  ferries  and  bridges,  in 
which  the  University  had,  or  was  thought  to  have,  an  interest. 
He  not  only  performed  Herculean  labors,  but  he  subjected 
himself  to  great  pecuniary  sacrifices,  in  behalf  of  the  College 
which  he  loved.  Eagle-eyed  as  a  man  of  business,  far-sighted 
as  a  politician,  a  man  of  mark  in  the  commercial,  and  the 
civil,  and  the  scientific  world,  he  at  length  gained  a  prominent 
position  in  the  ecclesiastical  sphere.  When  he  removed  his 
residence  from  Cambridge  to  Andover,  he  brought  with  him 
a  various  learning,  an  enlarged  acquaintance  with  men  and 
things,  a  practical  skill  which  eminently  fitted  him  for  starting 
a  Seminary  for  the  education  of  young  men.  Peculiarly  was 
he  adapted  to  waken  into  life  such  a  Seminary,  in  the  town 
of  Andover.  He  had  been  from  early  youth  the  intimate 
friend,  intimate  as  a  brother,  of  Judge  Samuel  Phillips,  "  the 
projector  and  chief  patron  "  of  the  Academy  which  then  in- 
cluded a  germ  of  our  Theological  Institution.  Dr.  Pearson 
had  been  closely  associated  with  Judge  Phillips  in  the  cele- 
brated enterprise  of  manufacturing  gunpowder  for  our  Revo- 
lutionary soldiers,  in  the  first  movements  for  laying  the  foun- 
dation of  Phillips  Academy,  in  the  most  important  measures 
adopted  by  Harvard  College  during  the  latter  part  of  the  last 
century,  and  the  earlier  part  of  the  present.  He  had  labored 
with  great  faithfulness  for  eight  years  as  the  first  Principal  of 
Phillips  Academy.  He  was  one  of  the  twelve  original  Trus- 
tees of  the  Institution.  He  was  the  fifth  President  of  the 
Board  of  the  Trustees,  and  the  first  President  who  did  not 
belong  to  the  munificent  family  which  had  founded  the  Insti- 
tution. His  influence  was  greater  than  that  of  any  other 

30 


234  PROF.  PARK'S  ADDRESS. 

man  over  the  estimable  widow  and  the  enterprising  son  of  his 
deceased  companion,  Judge  Phillips,  and  also  over  his  old 
friend,  Samuel  Abbot.  It  was  mainly  by  means  of  his  fervid 
appeals  and  his  overwhelming  arguments,  that  these  three 
Founders  of  the  Theological  Institution  were  in  spirited  to  be- 
stow upon  it  their  charities  as  they  did,  and  when  they  did.  It 
was  he,  who  gave  the  impulse  to  the  Seminary  which  was  de- 
signed for  the  Calvinistic  party.  He  was  admitted  to  be  the 
Coryphaeus  of  that  party  in  this  enterprise.  He  originated  the 
Constitution  which  now  spreads  out  before  us  so  broad  an 
expanse  of  scientific  and  moral  culture.  On  the  oak  tree  in 
the  rear  of  our  present  Chapel,  his  dignified  and  commanding 
person  was  seen  more  than  once,  as  he  had  climbed  upon  its 
boughs  to  project  the  site,  the  avenues,  the  circumjacent 
lawns  of  the  Institution.  He  was  also  the  main  instrument  of 
effecting  the  union  between  the  Seminary  at  Andover,  and 
that  which  had  been  planned  by  Dr.  Samuel  Spring,  and  his 
coadjutors.  He  rode  from  this  town  to  Newburyport  thirty- 
six  times,  for  the  purpose  of  consummating  that  union.  He 
was  elected  the  first  Professor  of  Sacred  Literature  in  the 
Seminary.  He  was  the  first  President  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, after  the  Theological  Institution  came  under  its  care. 
He  retained  the  Presidency  of  that  Board  nineteen  years,  a 
longer  period  than  any  other  one,  either  before  or  since  his 
time,  has  held  it.  He  continued  a  member  of  the  Board  forty- 
eight  years,  and  only  one  man  has  remained  a  member  of  it 
so  long.  He  is  the  only  one  who  has  ever  been  a  Trustee, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  Professor,  of  the  Seminary.  To  him, 
more  than  to  any  other  of  its  projectors,  is  the  Institution  in- 
debted for  the  wide  range  of  studies,  the  lofty  tone  of  schol- 
arship, the  ample  intellectual  furniture  which  it  aimed,  at  its 
very  origin,  to  secure.  The  inquisitive,  energetic,  indepen- 
dent mind  of  Professor  Stuart,  the  capacious,  opulent,  admir- 
able mind  of  Professor  Edwards,  were  in  unison  with  the 
high  ideal  which,  at  the  first,  Dr.  Pearson  proposed  for  the 
literary  character  of  his  favorite  school.  Tfye  eighteenth  arti- 


PROF.  PARK'S  ADDRESS.       235 

cle  of  the  Constitution,  which  emanated  from  his  broad,  far- 
reaching  mind  is  significant  of  his  habitual  aim  :  "  No  person 
shall  be  admitted  a  student  on  the  charitable  foundation,  who 
is  not  distinguished  by  natural  abilities,  literary  acquirements, 
unblemished  morals,  and  hopeful  piety;  a  certificate  of  which 
qualities  will  be  required  from  known  and  respectable  charac- 
ters, in  order  to  the  enjoyment  of  this  charity."  The  record 
of  his  manifold  efforts  in  the  earlier  years  of  both  the  Acad- 
emy and  the  Theological  Seminary,  is  a  monument  to  his 
zeal  for  the  cause  of  Christian  learning. 

The  same  earnestness  for  the  mental  elevation  of  the  pul- 
pit, was  conspicuous  in  his  labors  for  the  American  Educa- 
tion Society.  He  was  chairman  of  the  first  meeting  called 
together  for  the  purpose  of  forming  that  Society.  He  was 
chairman  of  the  committee  appointed  to  frame  its  Constitu- 
tion. The  original  Constitution  of  the  Society  was  the  work 
of  his  mind,  and  bears  the  imprint  of  his  unique,  individual 
character.  Its  very  language  indicates  his  interest  in  an 
educated  ministry.  He  was  the  first  man  who  signed  that 
Constitution,  and  his  name  stands  first  on  the  roll  of  the 
members  of  the  Society.  He  was  the  first  preacher  before  it; 
was  chairman  of  its  first  committee  to  solicit  subscriptions, 
and,  indeed,  of  all  its  most  important  committees  during  the 
first  three  years  of  its  existence.  He  was  the  first  President 
of  its  Board  of  Directors  ;  and  was  uniformly  and  punctually 
present  at  the  first  eighteen  meetings  of  that  Board.  There 
was  no  toil  which  he  was  not  willing  to  endure,  no  sacrifice 
which  he  was  not  ready  to  make,  for  the  successful  beginning 
of  this  important  organization. 

Dr.  Pearson  was  also  an  indefatigable  worker  in  behalf  of 
other  charitable  associations.  His  fertile  mind  originated  the 
Massachusetts  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knowl- 
edge, and  he  performed  various  Missionary  tours  amid  the 
destitute  settlements  of  New  Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island. 
He  was  at  home  in  the  company  of  John  Adams  and 
Theophilus  Parsons ;  nor  was  he  less  at  home  in  the  circle  of 


236  PROF.  PARK'S   ADDRESS. 

indigent  ministers  and  humble  Christians.  He  was  majestic 
and  sometimes  gubernatorial  in  his  mien,  but  he  was  also 
tender  in  his  intercourse  with  the  poor,  and  his  eye  was 
quickly  suffused  with  tears  at  the  story  of  the  bereaved  or 
the  wronged.  He  was  a  versatile  student,  a  many-sided  and 
strong-handed  laborer  for  the  welfare  of  his  race. 

I  need  not  add,  what  you  well  know,  that  in  his  later  years 
he  became  a  convert  to  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Emmons, — that 
the  Hopkinsian  and  the  Calvinistic  Seminaries  ought  not  to 
have  been  united.  As  Dr.  Emmons  did  not  approve  of  the 
incipient  processes,  so  Dr.  Pearson  did  not  approve  of  the 
ultimate  results  of  the  Coalition.  The  Seminary  was  more 
distinctively  Hopkinsian,  than  Dr.  Pearson  wished  or  expected 
it  to  be.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  allow,  in  his  open-hearted 
way,  that  he  was  disappointed  and  dissatisfied  with  the  man- 
agement of  the  Seminary  ;  and  was  grieved,  that  the  original 
plan  of  a  school  at  Andover,  without  any  compromise  with 
the  school  of  Dr.  Spring  and  Mr.  Bartlet,  had  not  been  car- 
ried out  fully  and  independently.  Whether  in  his  old  age  he 
changed  his  doctrinal  belief;  and  if  so,  how  far,  and  for  what 
reasons,  and  in  what  direction  he  modified  it,  are  questions 
which  I  care  not  to  discuss  at  this  hour  devoted  to  brotherly 
love  and  to  charitable  reminiscences,  and  on  this  ground,  the 
scene  of  his  literary  and  philanthropic  toils.  He  rests  from  his 
unremitted  labors.  It  were  a  seemly  thing  if  our  costly  Li- 
brary, of  which  he  formed  the  comprehensive  plan,  were  now 
adorned  with  his  expressive  portrait.  It  were  a  graceful  deed, 
if  our  cemetery,  where  lie  so  many  of  the  loved  and  the  hon- 
ored, could  be  enriched  with  a  monument  to  his  memory. 
He  needs  it  not,  but  the  living  would  be  stimulated  by  it 
to  works  of  charity.  The  eye  should  be  trained  to  affect  the 
heart.  In  coming  ages,  the  youthful  student  and  the  generous 
patriot  should  be  reminded  of  the  friend  of  letters,  the  patron 
of  schools,  the  servant  of  the  church  and  the  State,  who  here 
consumed  himself  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  others. 


ADDRESS. 


237 


Eev.  Samuel  Wolcott,  of  Providence,  has  favored  us 
with  the  subjoined  sketch  of  the  remarks  which  he  had 
designed  to  make. 

The  feelings  and  sentiments  which  one  is  most  ready  to 
utter  on  this  occasion  are  uppermost  in  every  heart ;  and,  ex- 
cept in  historical  reminiscences  (and  partly  in  these),  the 
speaker  is  anticipated  by  the  audience.  If  I  were  to  say  that 
my  own  associations  with  Andover  were  singularly  pleasant 
and  hallowed,  that  my  Seminary  experience  was  most  fortu- 
nate in  its  cherished  relations  to  teachers  and  fellow-students, 
which  are  now  recalled  with  a  sacred  tenderness  of  feeling ; 
if  I  should  affirm  that,  excepting  only  my  natural  and  spirit- 
ual birthplace,  in  that  quiet  Connecticut  village  where  ED- 
WARDS, in  his  youth,  received  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  and 
walked  in  his  father's  pasture  in  rapt  communion  with 
heaven,  there  is  no  spot  in  this  wide  land  so  dear  to  me  as  this 
Hill ;  none  which  I  would  make  a  longer  pilgrimage  to  revisit, 
and  none  to  which  I  do  come  with  a  livelier  throb,  nor  from 
which  I  retire  with  a  more  quickened  devotion  —  I  should  be 
giving  utterance  to  thoughts  which  have  been  already  ex- 
pressed, and  to  feelings  which  are  shared  by  the  company 
assembled  at  this  festival. 

Shall  I  be  indulged,  then,  with  a  thought,  which  may  pos- 
sibly strike  some  as  less  directly  or  legitimately  belonging  to 
the  occasion,  though  suggested  to  me  by  it  ?  My  attention 
has  been  recently  drawn  with  special  interest  and  closeness  to 
the  lives  and  writings  of  some  of  the  masters  in  our  New 
England  Israel,  who  made  our  early  Theology  a  name  of 
honor  in  Christendom ;  and  some  treasures  of  information 
and  authentic  tradition,  which  have  been  providentially 
accessible  to  me,  I  have  found  invaluable  as  an  aid  to  a 
familiar  acquaintance  with  those  men  of  a  former  generation, 
the  champions  of  our  common  faith,  not  as  represented  in 
their  writings  alone,  but  as  they  appeared  in  their  families, 
their  studies,  their  pulpits,  and  their  parishes.  And  the 


238          REV.  MR.  WOLCOTT'S  ADDRESS. 

thought  which  I  would  advance  (if  admissible  here)  is  in 
substance  this  —  that  did  I  not  know  it  to  be  a  law  of  the 
human  mind  to  look  back  with  an  exaggerated  yearning  to 
the  past,  I  might  be  tempted  to  conclude  that,  in  some  as- 
pects at  least, the  "  Golden  Age"  of  our  New  England  Theo- 
logy was  the  age  which  preceded  Theological  Seminaries. 

Two  facts  have  impressed  me  most  forcibly.  The  one  is, 
that  these  divines  all  held,  in  somewhat  varying  terms,  to  the 
great  doctrines  of  grace  which  form  the  acknowledged  and 
distinctive  features  of  the  Calvinistic  faith,  and  were  ardently 
attached  to  them,  as  doctrines  vitally  connected  with  what- 
ever is  genuine  in  religious  experience,  stable  in  Christian 
character,  and  elevated  in  spiritual  enjoyment;  as  doctrines 
which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  social  order,  and  prosperity  ;  as 
the  only  doctrines  which  abase  human  presumption  and  pride, 
and  exalt  the  divine  sovereignty  and  glory,  recognizing  God 
as  on  the  throne  and  placing  the  sinner  in  the  dust.  And  the 
other  is,  that  these  men  were  untrammelled  in  their  investi- 
gations, and  original  in  their  reasonings  and  reflections,  and 
their  concurrent  views  are  the  testimony  and  tribute  of  inde- 
pendent thinkers  to  the  truth ;  while  on  some  points  they 
neither  reasoned  alike,  nor  thought  alike.  Not  one  of  those 
who  had  an  agency,  greater  or  less,  in  shaping  our  present 
system  of  theology,  and  "whose  names  are  familiar  to  us  as 
household  words,  accepted  all  the  arguments  or  conclusions 
of  any  other  one,  while  they  each  and  all  held  staunchly  to 
the  cardinal  doctrines.  It  is  delightful  to  witness  the  conscious 
liberty  with  which  they  thought  and  wrote,  controlled  only 
by  a  sense  of  accountability  to  their  Master  —  beautifully 
illustrated  in  an  unpublished  remark  of  EMMONS,  when  cau- 
tioned against  the  publication  of  one  of  his  sermons,  lest  it 
should  alarm  the  churches  —  "  If  that  is  a  reason  for  not  pub- 
lishing, why  did  not  Paul  think  of  it  when  he  proclaimed  the 
doctrine  ?  "  I  have  found  a  special  charm  in  the  narrated 
particulars,  written  and  unwritten,  of  the  stated  visits  of  some 
of  these  pastors  to  each  other ;  their  free  and  fraternal  criti- 


REV.  MR.  WOLCOTT'S  ADDRESS.  239 

cisms,  their  protracted  and  animated,  but  dignified,  discus- 
sions, those  high  festivals  of  reason  —  "  nodes  ccenasque 
Detim"  And  it  is  a  fair  historical  inference,  not  unsuited,  I 
trust,  to  the  present  celebration,  that  the  writings  of  no  one 
theologian,  living  or  dead,  and  the  teachings  of  no  one  school, 
past  or  present,  are  to  be  received  by  us  as  the  complete 
measure  of  New  England  Theology;  and  any  attempt  to 
fasten  upon  us  a  standard  so  narrow,  would  be  subversive  of 
that  intellectual  freedom,  that  individual  independence,  that 
personal  and  paramount  reference  to  the  divine  authority, 
through  which,  under  God,  our  Theology  has  reached  its 
present  development,  and  in  the  atmosphere  of  which  alone 
it  can  live  and  flourish. 

Our  Theological  Seminaries  are  destined  to  allay  the  fears 
with  which  some  excellent  ministers  of  the  gospel  regarded 
their  establishment,  and  to  justify  the  faith  and  liberality  of 
their  founders,  and  fulfil  the  high  hopes  which  have  been  gar- 
nered in  them,  by  respecting  and  fostering,  instead  of  sup- 
planting, that  freedom,  of  which  those  venerable  ministers 
were  jealously  and  justly  tenacious  ;  and  by  holding  strictly 
an  ancillary  relation  to  the  pastors  and  churches,  not  having 
dominion  over  their  faith,  but  the  sharers  of  their  labors  and 
achievements,  and  the  helpers  of  their  joys. 

Assembled  as  the  servants  of  Christ,  on  this  glad  Anniver- 
sary, which  brings  to  our  vivid  and  grateful  remembrance  our 
Seminary  privileges,  and  the  voices  of  our  respected  teachers, 
—  the  living,  and  the  sainted  dead,  —  can  we  more  wisely 
improve  the  occasion,  and  render  a  higher  service  to  one 
another,  and  to  our  common  Master,  than  by  seeking  to  imbue 
our  souls  with  a  fresh  and  glowing  attachment  to  the  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  our  common  faith,  and  accepting  anew 
the  obligation  to  combine,  with  devout  humility  of  spirit,  a 
spirit  of  reverent  inquiry,  and  a  solemn  sense  of  our  personal 
accountability  to  heaven  ?  Thus  shall  our  beloved  Seminary 
be  justified  of  her  sons.  Thus  shall  our  theology,  honored  in 
the  past,  be  radiant  yet  more  as  a  crown  of  glory  in  the  hands 


240  REV.  MR.  WOLCOTT'S   ADDRESS. 

of  the  Lord,  and  a  royal  diadem  in  the  hands  of  our  God. 
And  thus  shall  our  churches,  amid  still  more  copious  effusions 
of  the  Spirit,  be  like  a  watered  garden,  and  like  a  spring 
whose  waters  fail  not ;  yea,  this  our  spiritual  heritage  shall 
become  like  that  garden,  which  laded  the  north  wind  and  the 
south  with  its  spices,  into  which  the  Bride  of  Christ  invited 
her  Beloved,  and  whither  He  came,  with  the  bounding  steps 
of  a  young  hart  upon  the  mountains,  to  be  regaled  with  its 
fragrance  and  to  feast  on  its  richness. 


SUMMARY, 


We  conclude  this  record  of  the  Celebration,  and  the 

sketches  of  incidents   and   personages   which   it  has 
elicited,  with  a  brief  statistical  resume. 

With  the  aid  of  Dr.  J.  S.  Clark,  we  have  compiled 
from  various  catalogues  the  following 

GENERAL    SUMMARY. 

Whole  number  who  have  been  connected  with  the  Seminary  2088 

Whole  number  who  have  graduated 1291 

Number  of  Resident  Licentiates                                >  89 

Number  who  have  pursued  a  partial  course     .         .         .         .         •  665 

Number  in  the  two  classes  remaining  in  the  Institution           .         .  73 

Whole  number  that  have  deceased          ......  418 

Whole  number  now  living       .         .         ,         .         .         .         .         .  1 6  70 

Number  connected  with  the  Seminary  during  the  first  ten  years 

(1809—1818) 196 

Number  of  those  who  have  deceased 104 

Number  connected  with  the  Seminary  during  the  second  ten  years 

(1819—1828) 430 

Number  of  those  who  have  deceased 136 

Number  connected  with  the  Seminary  during  the  third  ten  years 

(1829—1838) 534 

Number  of  those  who  have  deceased 95 

Number  connected  with  the  Seminary  during  the  fourth  ten  years 

(1839—1848) 440 

Number  of  those  who  have  deceased 63 

Number  connected  with  the  Seminary  during  the  fifth  decade 

(1849—1857) 433 

Number  of  those  who  have  deceased  .  ...  20 


While  a  large  proportion  —  probably  three-fourths  —  of  all  the  Alumni  of 
this  Seminary  have  been  employed  as  pastors,  or  stated  preachers  to  partic- 
ular congregations  in  the  sense  of  "  parish  ministers,"  every  triennial  Cat- 


242 


GENERAL     SUMMARY. 


alogue  shows  an  increasing  number  engaged  in  other  important  vocations. 
From  several  different  sources  of  information  the  following  statistical  view  of 
their  various  occupations  is  derived. 

About  three  hundred  have  been  at  work  in  the  Home  Missionary  field ; 
some  for  only  a  short  time,  others  on  a  life-long  labor. 

One  hundred  and  thirty-four  have  labored  as  Foreign  Missionaries ;  and 
they  have  been  found  in  every  quarter  of  the  world  where  the  American 
Board  have  sent  laborers,  —  as  also  at  the  stations  of  several  other  Societies. 

Professors  in  our  Colleges  and  Theological  Seminaries,  to  the  number  of 
at  least  a  hundred  and  thirty,  have  been  taken  from  the  Alumni  of  this  In- 
stitution. 

Educators  of  a  lower  grade,  but  of  scarcely  less  influence  in  moulding 
character,  have  also  been  supplied  in  considerable  numbers ;  the  last  trien- 
nial designates  sixty-seven  as  now  teaching. 

The  same  Catalogue  gives  the  names  of  sixty-six  "  agents "  of  various 
benevolent  Societies. 

Thirty-five  have  acted,  or  are  now  acting,  in  the  responsible  sphere  of 
Secretaries  of  these  benevolent  Societies. 

The  number  of  Editors —  chiefly  of  religious  periodicals — is  twenty-seven. 

Twenty-six  have  been,  or  now  are,  Presidents  of  Colleges. 

Among  those  who  have  filled  other  posts  of  service,  less  intimately  connected 
with  the  Christian  ministry,  are  seventeen  Physicians,  ten  Lawyers,  six 
merchants,  two  members  of  Congress,  and  one  Judge. 

The  honorary  title  of  LL.D.,  has  been  conferred  on  seven  who  have 
studied  in  this  Seminary,  and  that  of  D.  D.  on  one  hundred  and  thirty-six. 

Those  who  have  been  regularly  connected  with  the  Seminary  as  students 
were  graduated  at  the  following  Colleges : 


Dartmouth  College 
Amherst  "  . 
Yale  "  . 

Middlebury     " 
Williams         "• 
Bowdoin          "      . 
Brown  University 
Harvard  University 
Union  College 
University  of  Vermont 
Hamilton  College 
Marietta  College  . 
Oberlin  College    . 
College  of  New  Jersey 
Illinois  College 
University  of  New  York 
Michigan  University 
Western  Reserve  College 
Pennsylvania  College    . 


358 

Ohio  University 

326 
314 

Wesleyan  University 
Dickinson  College     . 

195 

Knox  College 

153 

Foreign  Universities 

108 

Jefferson  College 

78 

Pennsylvania  University 

75 

Wabash  College 

60 

Beloit  College 

58 

Centre  College 

37 

Iowa  College     . 

18 

Kenyon  College 

16 

Columbia  College     . 

11 

South  Carolina  College     . 

11 

Trinity  College, 

9 

University  of  North  Carolina 

7 
6 
5 

University  of  Georgia 
Not  graduated  at  College 

5 
5 
4 
4 
4 
3 
3 
3 
2 
2 
3 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
129 


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